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Amarchand and Titus waltz into Delhi T20 semi finals

Sadly, the last two quarterfinals of the ongoing 3rd SILF-Khushal Inter Law Firms Cricket Cup – 2011 (“Tournament”) failed to live up the expectations of even the most optimistic of supporters and proved to be the sort of one-sided affairs that chase spectators away from the game rather than towards it.

Amarchand v Karanjawala

In the first quarterfinal, played on “Choti Holi”, Amarchand Mangaldas overcame Karanjawala & Co with ease, convincingly proving wrong the predictions of this reporter.

Much like the West Indies in the ongoing CWC, despite putting in some excellent performances in the group stages, Karanjawala failed to deliver when it mattered most and failed at their first significant hurdle in the Tournament.

Having lost the toss, Karanjawala began superbly, first pegging back and then knocking over the much-vaunted Amarchand top three through an outstanding display of controlled swing bowling, with the Amarchand score reading at an abysmal 38/3 in 5.1 overs.

With the threat of a complete collapse looming large, the burden of resurrecting the innings fell upon the capable shoulders of new blood Jai Mohan and old hand Gaurav Dayal, both of whom came through this stern test with flying colours. Playing sensibly, the two first consolidated with singles and the occasional boundary, before opening up to unleash a barrage of fours and sixes, putting together a match winning partnership of 104 runs in 12 overs.

As partnerships should be, both Gaurav and Jai contributed exactly 53 each, before succumbing to the lust for quick runs against the outstanding Kalyan and Sarthak, who had also initially pegged back the Amarchand team. Unfortunately for Karanjawala, what should have been a moderate total soared into an immense one, with Majid thrashing 24 of a mere 10 balls at the fag-end of the innings – Amarchand finishing at a huge 182/5.

Carrying the momentum, Amarchand took the field knowing that a semi final spot was theirs for the taking. Gaurav Dayal immediately set the tone for the chase by knocking over Kalyan for zero in the first over of the chase. Wickets continued to tumble throughout the 16.2 overs that Karanjawala was able to bat, with the only contribution worth noting coming from Abhishek Roy, who was unlucky to miss out on a well deserved half century. The entire Karanjawala batting was able to put together only 13 fours and a total of 99, succumbing by a scarcely believable 83 runs.

Khaitan v Titus

The second quarter final of the day and the last of the four to be played pitted hot favourites Titus & Co against surprise quarter-finalists Khaitan & Co. Electing to bat first after winning the toss, a good choice given the powerful Titus batting, Khaitan put up an average batting performance to put up a barely competitive 126/6 in their 20 overs.

Obdurate, rather than dominating, the Khaitan batting plan seemed to revolve around batting out their compliment of 20 overs, rather than making a whole hearted effort to put together a total that would challenge the mighty Titus. Average contributions throughout with Arunabh (30), Nitin (16), Rajat (23), Prasenjit (22) resulted in an average aggregate score that was never likely to be enough.

Chasing a diminutive 127 for victory, Titus was surprisingly un-explosive in their chase, crawling towards, rather than rushing to a deserved win. The generally exciting Raj Kamal contributed a surprisingly slow 29 of 32 balls and the outstanding Saurabh Anand contributed a ‘by his standards’ pedestrian 38 of 30 balls, before Jamith Dhar chipped in with a commanding 32 of 18 balls to make sure that both teams could be home in time for the evening puja.

Titus won by a comfortable 7 wickets, but showed signs of weakness that the remaining teams will carefully look at.

Punditry

Justice appears to have been done with the four most powerful and consistent teams of the Tournament having made it through to the semi finals. Luthra & Luthra will play Kochhar & Co, whom they had lost to in the Turf T20 tournament earlier this year, while Amarchand will play Titus.

Both matches are mouth-watering prospects and should produce some excellent cricket and close finishes if all teams play to ability – for those in Delhi, especially if you belong to these firms, take some time out to head to the Gyan Bharti School to watch these teams compete. It is unlikely that you will be disappointed!

The views expressed in this article are those of the author only and Legally India takes no responsibility for anything written in this article or any views expressed herein. The author of this article was formerly with Luthra & Luthra Law Offices, Delhi and any bias apparent in these articles may be attributed to this former association.

Photo by TC7

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