India make it back to back wins in Edgware Inter-Club
India XI secured their second straight Inter-Club title after a nail bitting encounter against ROW XI at Paddington Recreation Ground. The game started in nail-biting fashion as ROW skipper Sajith Sriwickramasekaran faced a late dash to the game after his car tyres were slashed. The fans were asked on Instagram as to the likely culprit with the majority feeling it was no doubt an inside job from the rival Indian team. The jury is still out on that one.
Despite the early hick-up with Frogbox, the game duly started and batting first, India XI made an electric start. Sagar Raghvani and Sunny Halai opened up and shared an impressive 36-run opening stand before Jude Saverus, returning from his one year hiatus, removed Sunny with a well directed short ball. Despite
the early wicket, Sagar Raghvani was relentless on anything short and raced to 37 off 24 deliveries before Kabeer Soni removed his middle stump to make it 76-2. Enter Kishan Varsani, the big dog of (Edgware) Indian cricket. Kishan and Shuraj Vekaria slowly consolidated the innings and placed India in a commanding position of 136-2 before captain fantastic, Sajith Sriwickramasekaran removed Kishan for just 23. All the while, India captain, Shuraj Vekaria was playing a mature innings as he pulled and paddled his way to 50 not out and retired not out shortly after at drinks.
The match was keenly poised at drinks as ROW looked to comeback into the game. Tushyam Sonecha removed a dogged Vinay Acharya (one to look out for in the 2s this year) for 13 and Sajith Sriwickramasekaran then claimed his second wicket to remove Nick Kothari for 2, however Rahul Kothari played a counter-attacking innings to wrestle back the advantage for India and move them past the 200 mark. Two quick-fire wickets from Raj Parmar removed Thrisul Suganthan and Deep Shah cheaply before an inspired run-out from Naresh Sriwickramasekaran left India XI stranded on 217-9 and ROW seemingly back in the contest. However, Shuraj Vekaria returned to bat with Ananya Dixit for the final wicket (following his earlier retirement) and added a vital 29 runs for the last wicket before Ananya Dixit was run out courtesy of Dean Veerapen's right foot, leaving India on 246 all out off 33.5 overs.
So as it was in 2021, ROW were chasing 200+ against India to make it 1-1 in the Inter-Club series. Disaster struck early however as Alpesh Gorsia removed Raj Parmar with a short ball that rushed onto the Tanzanian superstar and he was caught and bowled for 2 leaving ROW 16-1 off 2 overs. Ciaran Hosty and Kashyap Varsani then started the repair work and moved to 83-1 before Ciaran held out at deep extra cover off Sagar Raghvani to break the momentum that was building for ROW. Two further quick wickets of Naresh Sriwickramasekaran and Jude Saverus didn't interrupt Kashyap Varsani's concentration as he moved to a chance-less first club 50 before retiring.
The game appeared to be drifting away from ROW at the halfway stage but a superb counter-attack from Sajith Sriwickramasekaran and Kabeer Soni pushed ROW beyond the 150 mark and within sight of the target. After Kabeer Soni fell for a brilliant 19 off 25 balls, Vidanda Galgamuwa returned to the field after an earlier blow to the head (this time with a helmet safety fastened). Both Vid and Saj continued to onslaught to push ROW closer to the 200 mark.
But then tragedy struck, as Sajith Sriwickramasekaran, Dean Veerapen and Vidanda Galgamuwa fell in quick succession to leave the chase in tatters at 203-8. Despite perhaps one of the largest sixes this writer has ever seen and the biggest since Jude Saverus' gravity defying hit over the pavilion at North London Cricket Club, Tushyam Sonecha fell for 6 runs to seemingly kill the contest as ROW fell to 210-9. Kahsyap's return to the crease felt more of a formality rather than an opportunity to win the game for ROW as he joined Luke Molloy for the last wicket stand.
However, in an action packed 15 minutes which included mis-fields, euphoria and tantrums, ROW moved to within 15 runs of victory in the penultimate over. However, experience ultimately showed as India captain Shuraj Vekaria removed Luke Molloy for a spirited 8 off 9 balls to secure a second straight victory for India XI, this time by 14 runs.
The post-game drinks were enjoyed at the Carlton Tavern and the Indian team rightly enjoyed their post game beer. The ROW will look to regroup for 2023 and hopefully get a win against their rivals from India.
Interested in watching the highlights from the game? With our partners, Frogbox we are able to stream-live our games for the first time. A highlights package has been included below for fans to enjoy.
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