The Rise and Rise of the Bastards
by Vineet Kanabar from the Inglorious Bastards.
There’s something about Angels. They’re not worth a lot, when their wings are clipped. And the problem with Demons is that once you’ve exorcised your own, the ones on the outside don’t really seem that terrifying.
On a wintry morning, 11 men set out to redeem themselves and their cricketing reputations, which had taken a beating with previous defeats in the MCL. The campaign had begun with a lot of promise; the Bastards were the only team unbeaten in a cricket match, going in to the MCL. The mood had shifted from confidence to self-doubt, as the Bastards lost consecutive games to Deewar and the X-Men, owing to some ordinary batting, and pedestrian fielding.
But all that was about to change as the Bastards took on Angels & Demons, on the back of two wins against what are supposed to be the ‘weaker’ teams (please refer to appendix) in the MCL.
Neeraj’s team, brimming with confidence, as was evident from Rohit ‘The Mix’ Taneja’s previous post on this blog, thought they were in for an easy time, electing to bowl as they won the toss. The decision seemed to have backfired as the Bastards’ opening pair of Shashanka ‘Tatanka’ Boruah and Vineet ‘Pimp00’ Kanabar got them off to a great start, cruising to 29 off four overs, before Hashvin struck twice in his first over. It seemed like it was upto Arpit ‘Beedi’ Srivastava to rescue his side again, but Gaurav ‘Bade’ Puri finally came to the party. Bade hit Rohan Pujari for two sixes in the same over, the latter of which has now been entered into cricket books as the definitive guide to a pull shot.
The Bastards got to 74 for 3 in 10 overs, and the Angels & Demons’ confidence was getting Shaky (Get it? If you don’t, please don’t ask for any sporting equipment in MICA again). After a few more lusty blows, Beedi got out to a bad shot, as the Bastards’ batting collapsed yet again, leaving Nero’s side with 110 to chase. Taneja got four wickets, Hashvin picked up three and Sujeet cleaned up the tail in his third over. The Angels thought they had slain the demons. They now have an idea about how wrong they were.
The Bastards took the field with some imaginative strategy. Kartikeya ‘Aashiq’ Malhotra bowled the first over, and his team’s masterstroke had worked, as two overs from the Bastards’ fifth bowler were out of the way with Shaky and Taneja still struggling to get their eye in.
Then came the time for the Bastards’ upgraded fielding to show, as Nimish and Rishi took some blinders off their own bowling, and the Angels seemed to be crumbling under the pressure. Kunj, generally the rock of the Angels’ batting got bowled off a scorcher from Arpit.
At the end of the day, the Bastards were standing tall, as the team to beat before the MCL finally lived up to its billing, setting the MCL up for a fascinating semi final line up.
There are a few morals to be drawn from this match, and I, along with my Merry Men of writing assistants proceed to enlist a few here. We hope you’re listening, because we’re going to say this just once.
1) This is cricket. Not chemistry. There is no formula. There is no set way of doing things. Imaginative cricket is still what wins matches, as the Bastards showed in their batting, bowling and most of their fielding.
2) Good always triumphs over evil.
3) Good fielding is the key to winning a match, especially when a batsman gives you three chances to get him out.
4) Generally, bowlers get wickets, but they also give runs away. GREAT bowlers get wickets. Period.
5) And finally, the MICA Cricket League is not about life and death; it is about much, much more.
Stay tuned to the MCL. This winter is only about to get hotter.
