August 14th was a successful day for the Camineys as they steam rolled over their opponents to win convincingly in all the disciplines namely, Cricket, TT and Tennis. While the batsmen did a wonderful job in securing a much needed win in cricket to keep any hope alive to qualify to the semi finals the tennis players overcame a decent resistance from the Section A to win 3-1. Moreover, It was the usual story in the TT arena as Crusaders whitewashed PGPIM 4-0 to march onwards into the semi finals.
It was a tenuous start to the day's proceeding with a heavy downpour raising concerns of abandonment of the cricket match. However, due to some champion efforts of the sports club of MDI as well as the players of HR team, the match between Crusaders and Section B was rescheduled to 5:30 p.m. Section B won the toss and elected to bowl in overcast conditions. The Crusaders started well with Pulkit carting two sensational boundaries in the first over itself. However, the joy was short lived as Pulkit handed an easy catch to point on the last ball of the first over. Aman and Utkarsh seized the initiative with hitting boundaries at regular intervals in the next two overs. Again, the top order fumbled with Aman and Utkarsh getting out in succession. Hardik and Abhishek, who was sent lower down the order, played very well and hit some lusty blows to clear the boundary and push the score over 50. Camineys maintained a constant run rate of over ten per over all through. With the fall of few more wickets, the lower middle order as well as the tail again contributed with as many as 5 sixes being hit between them. The Crusaders ended at 110 for the loss of nine wickets.
Clockwise from above: Pulkit hits a lofted shot over covers; Abhinav steaming in to bowl his first delivery; Karthik a.k.a. Cobra raises his arms during the match in glee after claiming two wickets
If it were the batsmen the other day, it was the turn of the bowlers to disappoint today. A match which could have well been won in a jiffy was left till the very last over majorly due to lackluster performance in the field. Both the frontline bowlers were put away by some efficient and thoughtful batting. If it was Ketan's pinch hitting display in the first over, It was Karthik a.k.a. Cobra whose sublime batting towards the end overs led to a close contest with respect to the crucial bonus point. Section B had long lost hope of the victory target and the only important milestone in their strategy was to deny Crusaders of the all important bonus point. Well, they needed to score 89 to do just that but fell short by just one run as their innings closed at 88 for 6 thanks to a good performance in the field.
Hardik runs in to high five with Nikhil at the fall of a wicket
Now, the fortunes of Caminey Crusaders hang in the balance and all eyes are focused on the match up between Section A and Section B. If Section B manage to beat Section A with the bonus point, it is the end of the road for Caminey Crusaders as far as cricket is concerned. However, if Section B beat A by a stupendous margin, Section A might be at the receiving end. The team expressed confidence post their victory and were happy with the extra bonus point achieved. If Camineys do go to the next round, one can expect some changes in the lineup.
As far as TT, the team rocked with Anket defeating Raghav in the opening encounter.Anket came from behind to win the opening set and followed it by a more convincing display of superior game in the second set. Kandarp slept through his match up and did not even crease his jersey once during the course of the match. Next, Amrita won 11-0 11-1 to drive home the advantage. Amrita and Kandarp wrapped up the proceeding with a mixed doubles victory. The TT team did not even lose one set in this match up and are confident of repeating such performances in the days to come.
Anket overpowering Raghav of PGPIM
Moving on to the Tennis arena, The Crusaders saw change in the tennis team with Abhinav & Bhuppi coming in the team. Aman was scheduled to play the opening match, followed by Abhishek in the next men's singles match. Amrita was to play the next match followed by Abhishek-Abhinav teaming up for the men's doubles and Amrita-Bhuppi for the mixed-doubles. Aman won the opening match against Section A's Sagar and Abhishek followed it up in yet another victory. Abhishek suffered from cramps and gulped humongous amounts of Gatorade to keep his energy level up. In the end, he prevailed over the opponent who was also down with cramps towards the later part of the match. Amrita lost out a closely contested match 3-2 after sniffing victory in the ladies single match. In the next encounter, Abhishek-Abhinav managed to easily beat the opponents and thus wrap up a successful day for Crusaders.
Abhishek waits for the opponent to serve; Bhuppi & Prakahr having a good time
With respect to crowd support, Crusaders were ably backed by good turnout of the support group. If it were Prateek and Deepak who were on the cricket ground sidelines,it was Anket and party on the tennis filed to cheer the teams on their road to victories. Special mention should be made about Kandarp and Prerna who were trigger happy to click plenty of snaps all through the day. Narsi was the photographer during the TT rounds. Dhaval, Amrita, Singhi, Bhuppi, Amruteshwar, Pulkit, Prakhar, Hardik and the EXTREMELY POPULAR Surendar (who has not missed a single match faring Caminey Crusaders) were all there to cheer with poise and energy. Anket was in his elements during the tennis matches and even christened Abhishek as 'PAPA' for his over the top mentoring of Amrita. All in all, it was a successful day for SEC-C who can now look forward to cool their heels on the independence day.
Crusaders cheer their team to victory
The name of the person who Aman defeated in the first tennis match is Rajat not Sagar :P
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