Cricket Diaries- 2

It was one of those quintessential Goan afternoons and there was some quality cricket on offer as BITS and SRM locked horns in the eagerly anticipated finals of the Spree Cricket Tournament at the the BITS-Pilani Goa cricket ground. Gopinath smashed BITS's insipid lengths to all corners in an entertaining, boundary laden 90 to launch his side to 173, a total that his bowling colleagues defended without any hiccups, to give their side a championship win. Gopinath's dazzling innings, the highest individual score by a batsman in a Spree final, overwhelmed the BITS team aided by contributions from the middle order. But SRM comprehensively emerged in front thanks to Gopinath's class act, on a day when the bowlers of the home side struggled to find their range.
Gopinath imposed himself on spinners’ niggardly lines by stepping out and teeing off down the ground in the seventh over. The spinners, introduced in the eighth, ran into the hurricane Gopi who announced his intentions with a swipe over cow corner. He pulled another six in the same over and the innings was on its way. And things got worse for the home team when Ashwin joined Gopi in the middle.
BITS's hopes of pulling things back were neutralized by Ashwin's innovativeness against their army of off spinners. He kept setting himself up for the reverse and paddle sweeps, dispatching with the spin towards third man, before launching him over deep midwicket in the 12th over, forcing the Bitsians to bring back the fast bowlers.
The move played into Gopi's hands, as he prepared for the final assault by lifting the listless bowlers through midwicket. After Ashwin's exit, he mowed a poorly-disguised slower ball from a medium pacer over deep midwicket as BITS ran out of viable options. Unfortunately for them, Gopi still had a lot of ammunition in the tank.
The spinners suffered the brunt of his blitz, but they did their cause little good by serving up hit-me lengths . A half-volley in the 16th was knifed over covers; a full toss later in the same over went in the same direction. And although Aditya Nikam, the BITS fast bowler impressed showing a lot of heart and picking up a few wickets in the last few overs , but BITS were already chasing a mountain.
The home team never really got going. Although they were cheered by a small but boisterous crowd, the quality of SRM was always going to prove too much. Their bowlers bowled good length, the fielding was sharp and in the end it was just a matter of time before the BITS batsmen capitulated. There were a couple of sixes struck at the end by Aditya Agrawal, another very enterprising all round player , which bought some cheer to the disappointed crowd. But the result of the match was never in question .BITS were eventually bowled out for 105. And the best team in the tournament had deservedly triumphed.