** RAVI NAIR FASHIONS A BOLLYWOOD CLIMAX**

If there was an ending that would rival LAGAAN (Indian Movie on
cricket) in terms of intensity, drama and emotion this was it. As gaurav hit
the winning shot to signal CCC1s victory the heavens opened and
"thunderous typhoons" it was close. To add to this there was the umpiring
debacle, RaviN was batting beautifully on 47 in pursuit of 109 when an
attempted pull thuded on to his pads followed by a vociferous appeal from
the opposition. Our own Kaushal was officiating and the bowler thought-
to put it in Geff Boycotts own words the ball would have missed off
missed leg but hit middle, a firm no from Kaushal and an explanation "the
ball would have missed off" made the YCC bowler hop around in agony for
some time. But kaushal was right the ball was missing offstump but he
did not add on to that and that is just one side of the story; You reap
what you sow and YCC learnt it the hard way as the number of appeals
RaviP made in this match was mo! ! re than the combined appeals in t
he earlier games. CCC1 was not worried about Bhagwan Das (YCC
legspinner took 5wkts last year and 3 this year) spinning a web around them but
were concerned about another Bhagwan (God) the Rain Bhagwan Varuna
casting a spell on them. This spell by Varuna would have been far more
deadlier than any as CCC1 were inching close to victory, but it seems he
heard our prayers and announced his arrival at the moment of our triumph.

YCC won the toss and elected to bat on a clear sunday morning at YCC
grounds. Gautam and Kiran opened the bowling and bowled well within
themselves before Sriram YCCs opening batsman commited suicide by running
himself out. YCCs heavy drinker Satish (drinks at the end of every over)
arrived and lived a charmed life as he chanced his arm and got away
with a well made 47. Wickets fell at regular intervals as Sujay and Sunny
bowled tidily and to their field. At the half way stage YCC were 57 for
the loss of 2 wickets. The drinks interval got CCC1 the much wanted
breakthrough as Satish was cleaned up by Sujay. What followed was a
barrage of wickets as Jayendra made amends for the dropped catch with 3
scalps. YCC were happy as they attained their target of 100 and eventually
made 109 of the alloted 30 overs.

CCC1 began their innings with a flurry of boundaries as the surgeon in
RaviN dissected YCCs bowling with trade mark pulls and lofted drives.
Gautam was sedate and was playing second fiddle to the doctor. Gautam
had a lucky break when his mistimed pull was put down as two fielders
collided in pursuit for the catch. But YCCs Rajiv soon one to move away to
clip Gautams off stump CCC1 were 30/1 with Sujay joining RaviN. Sujay
took over from Gautam and played himself in with well placed singles and
the partnership took CCC1 to 65 of 13 overs. Bhagwan Das the chief
tormentor was welcomed by sujay with a six over sqaure leg and RaviN
followed it up with some fine cuts as the score rocketed along. At this time
Varuna was threatening in the skies that prompted Gautam to signal the
need for urgency in going for the target. Sujay perished to Bhagwan Das
for 15 and Vignesh fell within the space of 3 balls for a duck. RaviN
was determined to make! ! his last league match a memorable one
as he marched to his fifty in fine style. Sunny strode in with the
confidence of a Patel and opened out to some robust shots as the
threatining Varuna kept the players looking skyward. RaviN fell when 5 runs were
needed for victory and Gaurav (our own Bhuvan) finished the match as
rain came pouring down.

A perfect ending, a match filled with controversies (umpiring) and
drama ended on a joyful note for CCC1 and now with 5 wins out of 6 games
look set to stride on with confidance for the remaining matches. Also
CCC1 would like to thank RaviPs wife- Anita and friend who helped us with
our scoring.