TrendSetters kept up with their winning habit, beating the NewWaves comprehensively by 9 wickets.

Kuljit-Singh - 15 July 2001  (Scorecard)

 

Mohammad Noman (60*) held up Trendsetter’s victory bid with a fine half-century on July 15^th Sunday day of the Friendly Challenge Match at Frankford Fields.

This was about as good as it gets. The cloudy skies protected the players from the harsh rays of the sun; the batsmen made excellent use of a fine batting wicket, and all the bowlers had a decent chance to find some rhythm. How can we (Trendsetters) not win if the very Oracle comes to play with us (Krishna Kordas)?

 

Captain Kuljit-Singh won the toss and his decision to put the opposition in to bat was once again justified by Raguram and Upendra T who struck early to dismiss both openers, Sai Amuluru and Sumeet, and leave NewWaves at 29 for two in the Sixth over. Harish Baddam (3/25) and Raguram (3/13) were the chief architects of the victory. TrendSetters bowlers wasted no time in putting the NewWaves under pressure and by the end of 21 over the last batsman was already in.

 

TrendSetters made NewWaves resemble a schoolboy team in restricting them to 109 all out 21.1 overs. Trendsetter’s bowlers dismantled the NewWaves batting with surprising ease, this was by no means a poor batting line-up either; 11 of the players have played almost all matches and the others are regular irregular players of the team. NewWaves showing a major disappointment. So complete was Trendsetter’s dominance that the NewWaves could score just two boundaries in the first 8 overs, one each by Uday and Zia. They hesitated to take runs and were once again unlucky to get run-out on a few occasions. They scored at a snail's pace and by the half-way mark had lost their batting mainstays, Anil and Uday, with just 47 runs on the board.

 

Earlier, vice captain Uday Poosarla (9) and Zia Haque (9) tried to put up a fight in the middle order with one boundary each, while Kuldeep (13) and Anil (14) gave a good stand. Apart from these two, none of the NewWaves batsmen came to terms with the TrendSetters bowlers. They scored mainly through ones and twos though the occasional boundary also did come. Sanjay did not last long enough to make an impression, his poor run of form continues. Sanjay failed to beat an accurate throw by Kuljit and was sent back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers. Praveen Singh caught Zia & Kuldeep off the bowling of Kuljit & Raguram respectively to bring the NewWaves innings to a rather swift end.

 

Satish however bowled brilliantly. He extracted both spin and bounce from the wicket. He dodged Promod & George, wicket keeper praveen doing the rest.

 

TrendSetters would have lost Mohammad Noman in the next over bowled by Zia Haque. In the 2nd over NewWaves had a big chance to dismiss Mohammad Noman, he went for a big cut, got the inside edge and through to the keeper, big shout from Zia, Uday drops the catch. Eventually the dismissal of Satya Modugula, who scored 13, raised the tempo of the innings again. Mohammad Noman decided enough was enough and promptly smashed Kuldeep-Singh Nijjar for 17 in an over. The NewWaves never threatened thereafter. His fifty included eight breathtaking boundaries and 3 massive sixes off Zia, Uday and Kishore over deep midwicket. It was his second half-century in three friendly innings. In his belligerent knock, NewWaves bowlers have reason to fear Mohammad Noman. TrendSetters took only 14.3 overs to finish the match.

 

Positive thinking by Kuljit-Singh

 

I think we had a very good day. Mentally, we remained very strong. "I had to keep retiring the batsmen which is always a good sign and we generally did the little things well. "I don't think you should look too much at individual performances. If the team keeps winning, then that's the most important thing. " With two convincing victories under their belt, a confident TrendSetters look to assert their superiority in forthcoming match on Sunday July 22^nd. Trendsetters captain Kuljit-Singh Nijjar is determined to completely end their losing streak against NewWaves. "We want to win. Whatever it takes to win, we want to do," said Kuljit after a fantastic win against NewWaves. "I'm not into making any predictions but we are aware of the run of defeats and we are committed to turning that around.”  I am proud that everybody gave 100%. The bowlers were disciplined and bowled as a group," he said. Kuljit-Singh Nijjar, after the match, had said he would like to experiment with the team, now that they were confident. Some of the players have not got a chance to play (batting) and might get their opportunity on Sunday July 22^nd.

 

Sanjay seeks Mohammad's advice to tide over batting blues

Sanjay Singhvi said that he would seek the advice of Mohammad Noman on his batting. "He is the best person to approach. I will definitely request him to help me out." Sanjay failed with the bat, averaging 5 in the 7 matches. The only notable contributions from his bat were a knock of 13 in the 6th match. "I have only one target at present. That is to score some runs and achieve a win. To achieve that, I am really going to work very hard.