Before the match began cleveland1 captain gautam said "the team that
rises to the occasion will win and followed it up with "the better team
does not always win", We are the better team thundered Ravi N. Going by
the myth surrounding these conversations it seemed that we were the
better team bcos we lost and ofcourse that is the only consolation from
this game.

The match started ontime at CCCs new home ground. Cleveland1 won the
toss and decided to bat first on a pitch that was to be tested for the
first time. Gautam and RaviN opened for cleveland. The experienced pair
mixed caution with aggression but for most part content to play the ball
on merit. RaviN opened up with two pulled fours one each in front and
back of sqaure leg. The momentum was picked up by Gautam who played an
improvised square drive over the points head for a boundary. The CCC
bowlers bowled within themselves and were content in putting the ball in
the right slot. Just when the partnership was looking to blossom amits
change of angle from around the wicket had gautum inside edging the ball
to be castled. RaviN continued his aggressive approach of latching on
to anything slightly short and picking them for boundaries but
eventually that led to his down fall sking one up for a easy catch at square
leg. With the score 40/2 the need of the hour was! ! to milk the bo
wling and set the stage for a late charge. Vignesh having played a
couple of well timed shots fell attempting to play the pull shot of Sai.
The bowler accepted the return catch to leave CCC1 at 47/3. Ani was
joined by srini and the score moved along to 60/3 with Ani playing some
lovely pulls and clearing the infield effortlessly for runs.

Just when it looked like he was set for a big one, ani topedged a pull
to fine leg much to the glee of the CCC. At 62/4 it was important to
play out the 35 overs for CCC1 but what followed was a procession as
wickets fell like nine pins. Sujay was the next to go failing to keep the
pull shot and apparantely the fourth to fall for such a stroke. RaviP
and srini played out some maiden overs before RaviPs attempted cut went
staright into the hands of the wicketkeeper. Srini's resistance ended
when Bharat got his legspinner to kiss his glove through to the keeper.
At 69/7 Gaurav played some lusty blows in an effort to get some quick
runs but the damage already done by a discplined bowling performance the
last three wickets fell in the space of 7 runs. Amit and Sai shared the
honors with 3 and 4 wickets respectively. CCC1 was shutted out for a
meagre 76runs.

Determined to make a match of it CCC1 took the field hoping to get
quick early breakthroughs. The key lay in taking those half chances and
showing some intensity in the field. Gautam opened with CCC openers
playing safe for the initial couple of overs. A near run out in the first
over was the only missed chance for CCC1 and a dropped catch in the 2nd
over. Vindy opened out by picking Gautams slower ball for a boundary and
followed it with a mighty six over deep fine leg off Ani. Despite the
blows Gautam made one to dip into the batsman making him hit the ball
straight to him. CCC1 got the first breakthrough and as one would have it
the next wicket fell in the same over when vinods attempted cut ended
up in the hands of vignesh at gully. At 20/2 an interesting match was on
the cards. Krishna joined his partner and both took the score to 30
when Gautam took a return catch to send back the lefthanded pradeep for 8.
Gautam and Ani extracted good pace from the wicket and bowle! !
d thier hearts out and were supported by some spirited fielding. Ani
got on the wickets column by removing Hari with a late inswinger and
murali got one through the defences of abhejeet. Meanwhile krishna who was
beaten more number of times than the runs he scored continued to
frustrate ccc1 bowlers. Bharat and krishna saw CCC through to the target of
77 in 17.4 overs.

All in all a resounding win for CCC but not without CCC1 making them
sweat to acheive victory. As i said the better team lost but the better
team on that day won. If this is an offday it is glad that it has
happened against the defending champions. CCC1 can ill afford another
collapse like this in the later stages of the tournament. It may well serve as
a wake up call for CCC1 and need to get back to the winning ways sooner
than later.