Cleveland Krushers Cricket Club

Statutory Warning! – This read would take time as the content is big. But when so much happens in a game, the summary would be big too.

Well well well! It’s that time of the season when Krushers were up and running and were ready to take on any opponent. Along came one of the toughest opponents for this season in the Divisional group stages. DMI Orange have not lost in any of their games this season and were considered one of the favorites to top the group. The Krushers have also had a good run of form with an unbeaten streak of 5 matches. So this match was not going to be a David vs goliath by any means. Instead it was a game which put to test, the paradox of “what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable

object?”

So as the day started, this being an away game for DMI Orange, they had travelled all the way from Cincinnati to take on the Krushers and a reasonably chilly day awaited them in Cleveland. Toss was done and as has been the norm in the past few matches the Krushers opted to bat after winning the toss. The

outfield was heavy and wet due the overnight shower and dew. Krushers regular opening batsman Vijay had a new partner this game in Arash. They were up against Baljinder Singh alias Balli. The DMI Orange got to a good start by knocking over the openers quite cheaply as Balli was breathing fire. Both the

batsmen out to good fuller length deliveries. Though the batsmen contributed to their downfall by playing across the line.

Those two wickets brought Ivan and Manthan together. Ivan had a string of low scores lately and wasdue for a big one. While Manthan was the crisis man for the team, he has floating from being an opener to the 10th down depending on the Match situation in the last few matches. He was waiting to get out

and show his class when the team needed his temperament and solidity. Initially they negotiated the faster bowlers well and accumulated runs with low risk shots against them. Bringing the Krushers home to a respectable total at the first break after 12 overs with only two wickets down. Then once they were set and fairly comfortable against the quicks DMI Orange tried bringing in their slower bowlers to spin them out. Unfortunately for them, it played right into the hands of the Krushers.

Manthan and Ivan especially are devastating against the Spinners. Once they had their eye in, they smoked the slower bowlers to all corners of the ground. They were severe against the leg Spinner Rishi and off spinner Gaurav. There was a boundary almost every over and the lost ground during the initial

overs were regained in some style. At the end of the 24th over, the Krushers were sitting comfortably at 148/2. Ivan had completed a rampaging half century by then and Manthan was nearing one. During the final session of the first innings, the Krushers had their eye set for a score well over 200 for the second time this season and Ivan and Manthan set about doing what they do best, scoring runs. By this time, DMI Orange realized, quicks were their only option as Spinners had a horrid time against these two and brought on their quicks. This time however, the quicks were also treated with equal disdain.

Ivan brought up his Century quickly(107 off 76 balls) becoming the first batsman in krushers to have 2 centuries. Manthan also, brought up his solid and composed half century (59 of 95 balls). Manthan was hit on the foot by one of the Blazing Yorker by Balli earlier in the innings, but he batted through the pain to get the team to a commanding position. However, when he realized that it was hampering his as well as the team’s attempt to flourish and go for quick runs. He retired himself out and that brought the star of the season Kaushal in. Now the Krushers had an in form Kaushal and a rampaging Ivan. This meant red light (danger) for the DMI orange, however, it was an anti-climax with Ivan getting run out unfortunately to a good piece of fielding. With both the set batsman out. The Krushers were in the danger of not finishing well. They sent in their regular finisher, Nick Patel in to run the opponents ragged. Nick has been not out in three of the previous four games and it was time to see if DMI Orange had it in them to get him out. Nick surprised the opponents by tonking two massive sixers, which took everyone by surprise. Such power from Nick was a surprise even for his team mates. Kaushal got out in the penultimate over looking for quick runs. Nick (26 of 17 balls) and Sreekanth ran crazy by taking doubles and triples in the last over. All this meant, the Krushers reached a very good score of 239/4 in 35 overs. This was a very good score against any team or so it seemed. 

Now it was time for the DMI Orange to wield their bats and score some runs. They had to go for it as they were having a huge score to chase. The Openers Asheesh and Parik set about doing the same. Theopening bowler for Krushers was Chintan, who was playing for the first time this season. He was a bit

rusty and the DMI Orange openers got off to a decent start in the first over. Balaji opened from the other end and the openers found it a bit hard against him initially. Arash was introduced in the third over, giving some time to Chintan for warming up and getting his mojo back (Which he later did by pulling off some amazing stops wherever he fielded). Arash didn’t disappoint, he went for a couple of boundaries but took out one of the opener in the bargain. Arash Then, Krushers piled the pressure and brought in the debutant quickie, Sai Thumma. Though he seems so calm and down to earth. His bowling was an entirely different story. He was rushing the batsman with pace and got his first wicket in his first over for Krushers with Captain Ivan taking the catch at deep midwicket. The openers back in the hut. Arash and Sai had restrained the scoring and had wrested back the advantage to Krushers. In the 11th over, Krushers, went in for their fourth seamer, Sreekanth, who has not been so good with the newish ball. Today was a new day and he got a wicket of the first ball of his spell, Pirabhu DMI’s star batsman was caught had backward square leg beautifully by Arash. In the same over, DMI’s left hand batsman

was caught behind by Manthan. This left the DMI orange, reeling at 78/4 at the 12 over break.

Coming off the break, DMI Orange started defensively, looking for singles and doubles primarily on the on side. The game was drifting along as there was no intent to score quick runs and the wickets were not coming easily. Kaushal Patel’s wily left arm spin was introduced into the attack to lure them. And it

worked almost immediately and Natarajan was given out LBW of Kaushal’s bowling. When, everything seemed to be working for Krushers, in walked Balli. Balli has created a reputation of being a huge six hitter in the tournament and he was coming off some good hitting in the previous matches. He came in

and started hitting the bowlers out of the park for fun. The momentum was shifting quickly, when he hit two sixers in an over and was threatening to take the game away from Krushers, despite them being on top. Sreekanth was re-introduced and he managed to induce a nick to the Keeper and that was the end

of Balli’s six hitting against Krushers. With 6 wickets down and tail enders to bat, the Krushers relaxed bit assuming the game was all set and done. There were supposed to be no more twists. They let the game drift away and the DMI Orange had a good 7th wicket partnership between Ganesh and Vijay P. The DMI Orange were left with 87 to score from 11 overs with 4 wickets to go at the second break. Things were getting a bit close for comfort from Krushers point of view.

After the break, having tried all their key bowlers and not getting the breakthrough. The Captain took the onus on him and came to roll his arm over. It brought immediate result as he managed to knock over Vijay P and Krushers were nearing the Kill. The Quickies Arash and Sreekanth were brought in again to see if the tailenders can be cleaned up. But it was not to be, the DMI had an even better 8th wicket partnership between Vijay and Ganesh. They were slowly but surely taking their team closer and closer to Victory. The equation came down to 45 of 5 overs with 3 wickets in hand. The 8th wicket partnership

was doing well and most of the times the batting team has an upper hand and are the favorites to win from this situation. The Krushers were reluctant to hand over the ball to the debutant Sai in this crunch situation, considering it was his debut and it would undue pressure on him. The situation demanded 5 good overs and one bad over could cost the match. Their other two quicks Arash and Sreekanth had 3 overs in their kitty. On came Arash, he bowled a reasonably tight over and the equation came down to 37 off 4 overs.

Balaji did not have a good match by his own standards and was desperate to show his class and take the team over the line. He took the onus on him and bowled an over full of guile which bamboozled the batsmen and it came down to 30 of 3 over with 3 wickets in hand. Sreekanth was brought in for his final

over and the equation came down to 22 off 2 overs. This was still and easily achievable target for the DMI Orange and the Krushers had been unsuccessful in breaking the 8th wicket partnership till then. For the penultimate over, Balaji came in again and bowled couple of good balls, creating pressure. Then the

captain and vice-captain combined to break the partnership. Ganesh was caught at long on by Ivan. This brought the game right back and now they just had one set batsman and had to score 20 runs. They managed to take 5 more of the over and needed 15 off the last over with Vijay still in. Arash came on to

bowl the last over, by then the pressure was completely on the set batsman as he had to find a boundary. He went for a big shot first ball and was caught at long on. The catcher was Ivan as has been the case most often this season. The remaining 5 balls were bowled and the DMI orange managed to score only 6 runs. Krushers held on their nerves and won by 9 runs. They have managed to topple a top team and keep their winning streak alive, this being their 6th win on the trot.

NOTE: Special mention must be given to the field placements and adjustments based on the type of bowler along with some outstanding catches taken by the Krushers team.

This victory is dearer and sweeter as this was complete team performance against a top team.

Winning is a habit and well Krushers are addicted to winning now.

There is no necessity for special mentions here as everyone played their role. There was no one winner in this game, the better team won the game and they won the game as a team.

Go KRUSHERS! Crush ‘em all….

Hip Hip Hurray!

After successfully wining the city games and unbeaten for some time, Krushers started the division games with their heads held high, with enormous self belief and bubbling confidence.

Team came in early and went through the usual warm up routine, focused on the task at hand. It was a beautiful sunny day and after Krushers captain lost the toss, the opponent decided to field. Krushers opened with usual suspects Vijay and Vikram, Vijay was very positive with his running and represented exactly the kind of attitude and aggressiveness krushers were looking for. Vikram was his calm self.

Vijay got out early though so Vikram and Nishit settled the team. They took it from 17-1 to 47-2 when Vikram got out. Krushers quickly lost Ivan and once again top order collapsed. Now in dire state at 47-3. Saleem came to the crease and settled the batting. He has been a dependable batsman in tough situations. He struck a nice partnership with nishit and slowly and steadily built a solid platform. Nishit played his part in the partnership and runs started to flow at a decent pace. He got out scoring 28 runs that included 2 boundaries.

Out came the season standout Kaushal, one who has been playing out of this world. With him and Saleem in the crease Krushers had two batsman that could change the course of the game. This was the beginning of an match winning innings, a partnership the brightened the whole atmosphere and it will live in the memory forever. There was mix of aggression and sensible batting. Saleem was steady while kaushal was positive right from the go. From 86/4 to 205/5 was an unbelievable batting display. Awesome drives, pulls over midwicket, quick running and no risk batting was a sight to see.

Kaushal completed his innings at career best 69 of 53 balls, 7 fours and 1 six whereas Saleem hit his best score of 82 of 73 balls, 6 fours and 3 sixes.

Manu joined the party with 14 runs of 4 balls and nick ran like crazy. Krushers reached their top score of 255/6.

Ohio State had a mammoth target ahead and an excellent and strong Krushers bowling attack and fielding to face. Ohio state played aggressive cricket but Krushers knew it was a matter of time and a wicket will fall. Manu got Kalyan out to a nice catch by Saleem and the doors opened. Kaushal, Saleem, Balaji, Shreekant all bowled well in tandom and OSU managed to keep up with run-rate but kept losing wickets. 

Manu was the standout bowler, he planned every ball he bowled and every time Krushers handed him the ball a wicket was on the cards..he was simply awesome. 2 batsman clean bowled, 1 lbw and 2 caught fetched Manu a 5 wicket haul. Shreekant has also come leaps and bounds in his bowling. New ball control is still an area he is working on but with the older ball and his excellent pace he is too hot to handle for lower order batsman. He got the main set batsman caught in the deep and 1 clean bowled of an inside edge. Amazing short spell that was like a bullet that shattered OSU dreams of a comeback.

Once again Krushers were victorious.

Each game we are finding new heroes who step up to the challenge and take OWNERSHIP. Keywords are "TEAMWORK and OWNERSHIP".

We believe that anyone of us can change the course of the game, be it via bowling, batting or fielding.

THE REASON OF OUR SUCCESS IS " COLLECTIVE DETERMINATION & NEVER GIVE UP ATTITUDE".

CHEERS to this special and memorable performance!!

Krushers team full of confidence arrived on the field to take on Blazers, the team that had beaten them in the Spring T-20 game.

It was time to settle the score.

Krushers captain won the toss and elected to bat. Some of the regular players were rested to make sure the bench is gaining match experience as well. Vijay and Vikram opened the batting and got team off to a cautious start. Slow runrate but importantly not too many wickets fell to the new ball. Krushers were 30 for no loss in 8 overs. Vijay scored a couple of boundaries and Vikram was supporting on the other end. Soon 30 for 0 became 32-1 and 37-2 with Balaji out in the 10th over. Then Ivan joined Vikram in the middle. He came with intent to accelerate and get the team a move on so he pushed for singles and two’s. Of one of the misfields Vikram was run out as he could not make it to the non-striker end in time.

Krushers in trouble 12 overs 46-3, 3.83 rpo. Out came Arash into a difficult situation. He and Ivan had a good partnership with quick runs and good running between the wickets. They pulled the run rate up to 72 in 17, (26 runs in 30 balls) at 5.2 rpo. and when all looked under control Ivan edged a ball and got out.

Kaushal has been reliable and a player in top form. He has been consistently delivering to team needs and he stepped up once again. Kaushal made excellent 34 runs which included 1 four and 1 six. This along with support and acceleration from Rohit and Manu got Krushers to their average score 171 runs in 33 overs. Team this time was not able to bat through the complete 35 overs.

Krushers bowling has been standout all games and so has been their fielding. Often not given the credit, but its an area where Krushers hold an edge over the opponents.

Krushers bowling started out with Rohit and Balaji. Balaji looked ready for the challenge and Rohit was very unlucky to not pick wickets as the new ball was swinging and batsman had no clue. Balaji got krushers their much needed early breakthrough. He clean bowled Shikar with a slider. Blazers then stabilized their innings till the 10th over when Ivan brought on Vikram to bowl. Vikram has been in tremendous wicket taking form over the last few games and he did not disappoint. Markarand top edged the ball and Ivan caught him behind the wicket. Arash then got onto his line and length and started to cause serious problems along with Manu. They did not allow batsman to settle down and troubled them all through.

Arash brought about two edges from the batsman and both were caught by the wicket keeper. Gopi who was a thorn in the eye for Krushers in the T-20s was playing well and was taking the game slightly away. Krushers then went back to their premier bowler Balaji and he bowled the delivery of the game to get Mr. Gopi bowled. WOW what a ball!!! The whole team knew we had now won the game after this wicket. Manu was bowling excellent all day and his contribution was enormous in building pressure. He wrapped up the lower order with 3 wickets.

Top bowlers:

Balaji 4/27, Manu 3/18 and Arash 2/20.

It was a commendable fielding and bowling performance. Consistently Krushers have been relying on these two aspects to win close games. Kudos to the overall team performance.

Special thanks to Manu for his excellent batting and bowling and also for being a true Krushers in his heart. You contribution is much appreciated. Cheers brother.

Team was all geared up to win. We came in early, warmed up and took a few catches to get the blood flowing. Krushers Captain Ivan called the toss and won. Krushers elected to Bat first, put runs on the board and pressure the opposition.

Top order form has been an issue all through the T-35, with Krushers captian Ivan has been out of form this was an important game to get back into form, but somehow it did not happen. Once again Ivan got out early lbw and returned to pavilion in the 2nd over. Vikram and Vijay had now the ownership to steady the innings but Vikram got out early too. With 2 down inside 5 overs Krushers had a miserable start. Out came Nishit to join Vijay in the middle. Then began a period of confusion, chaos, dropped catches and missed run outs. Both were lucky to survive the scares. Running between the wicket was comical so was the opposition fielding and catching.

Vijay returned to the dugout scoring 10 runs. The runs kept coming at a slow pace, thanks to the support of extras provided by the opposition the score board kept ticking. Saleem joined Nishit in the middle. Saleem has been in good form but has not been able to convert starts into big scores. He inside edged a bad ball onto the wicket and got out scoring 6 runs. Krushers were in a huge spot of bother but the team kept faith as in the last few games the middle and lower order had stepped up to save the blushes.

Kaushal came and batted as if he was playing a different attack than the rest of the team. He continued from where he left off last game and played positive attacking cricket. Scoring a quick fire 45 runs. Nishit through all this started to build his innings and played an important role for the team and stayed till the end, scoring 39 of 75 balls. Krushers accelerated the last 11 overs and Sarvanan contributed enormously to the score. Running fast and playing unorthodox cricket he brought energy and aggressiveness to the game.

Krushers managed to score 176/8 in 35 overs.

Out came OCCC openers Khadar and Rashid. Khadar hit some lusty blows but his life was short lived as he was caught in the slips on Balaji's bowling. Athar played very well and was timing everything through the middle and taking minimum risk. Krushers brought in their star performer with the bat to bowl (Kaushal). Kaushal having the confidence from a good batting performance carried it into his bowling. He bowled with flight and quickly became a nightmare for OCCC. Wicket after wicket fell and Krushers even though were behind the run rate, regular wickets kept them in the game. Team took a lot of catches and everyone of them was very crucial. Once Kaushal got Athar the game was over. He was the main stay batsman scoring 60.

Kaushal figures were 7 overs 5/23 and 45 runs. He was declared the man of the match.

Excellent team performance but Kaushal and to an extent Nishit and Sarvanan deserve special mention.

Feels amazing to have 3 wins under the belt.

With a win against Akron the team was motivated to keep the winning streak going.

This was going to be tough as there was a 3 week break, but team practiced hard and drilled itself on catches. We truly believe catches win matches.

The day had arrived. Krushers captain Ivan being the away team called the toss, Krushers lost the toss but the opponent selected to field which was exactly opposite of what Krushers wanted to do.

So all worked out fine with the toss. Openers Ivan and Vikram went to the crease with Ivan facing the new ball. The ball was swinging and the 4th ball of the over Ivan knicked an outswinger to the keeper. This was a big blow to the team to lose one of their main batsman so early in the game. Then came Nishit at 1 down. He batted with confidence from the get go and started middling a few, Vikram and Nishit put up a decent partnership together with a few quick runs and some good shots by Nishit. The flick over leg comes to mind that hit the tree. Nishit was playing well and looked set but he lost focus and gave his wicket away to a mistimed shot. Vikram was a steady player at the other end, played with responsibility and determination. At the fall of Nishit's wicket Saleem walked in. He had no trouble playing the bowling and was set to make a big one. Singles started to flow and the team gained a bit of momentum, but then Saleem fell before the break and the team was in a spot of bother. Out came Manthan, he had a key responsibility of playing it through till the very end and get the team to a respectable total. He was having a hard time timing the ball initially and runs were hard to come by, but he never gave up as it was a matter of time things will happen.

Vikram however may have felt the lull and decided to step out to a spinner. He misjudged the flight and was stumped. Vikram was playing really well but could not capitalize on the start. Kaushal and Nick played a awesome innings. Kaushal was timing it right from the start and his runs came thick and fast. Drives over extra cover and straight over long on were excellent. He batted with purpose and gusto. Nick ran a lot and also put together an excellent partnership with Manthan that was unbeaten. It was because of these two that the team reached a very respectable total. They ran hard and were determined, this led to the opponent making a lot of mistakes and errors which Krushers capitalized. Decent batting performance after a shaky start showed the team is ready to perform even when the chips are down. Kudoos for the fightback and Manthan deserves a special mention.

Hashlingden then came out to bat and were aggressive in their approach. Krushers opened with Saleem and Balaji. For the first 6 overs Hashlingden were going well they played some good shots and were gaining confidence. Krushers then threw the ball over to Vikram, who has been high on confidence from the 5 wickets he took against Akron. He started off really well, and got the opener hitting the shot to deep cover. Krushers had placed one of the best fielders in the deep Nick and he did not disappoint. He took a stunning catch that stopped the run flow and gave control back in Krushers hands. Next wicket was caught again of Vikram's bowling at point. Saleem then came on to bowl and dismissed Mitul, lbw. Krushers were getting into the game constantly rotating bowlers and adjusting strategies.

Kaushal patel bowled a flighted ball a typical weapon of batsman destruction and got the batsman spinned and bowled. It was a great breakthrough, but the game was not over Mir Arfin came attacking and scored quickly, he dispatched the bad balls and put together a very good partnership for the 5th wicket. Hashlingden was gaining ground and Krushers premier bowlers were almost close to bowling the quota complete. Then Ivan took the responsibility to make sure he brings control back to the bowling. Bowled some tight overs and the batsman started taking chance. Mir Arfin hit Ivan for a couple of boundaries, but then Ivan bowled a slower one that had him mistime the shot and was caught fantastically in deep cover by none other than Nick. This was the game changer. After this wicket Krushers believed the match was almost in their pocket and that was the case, wickets tumbled one after another and Krushers won by 20 runs. Shreekanth also bowled a couple of decent overs to keep the lid on runs.

Catches did win the game and it was team work at its best. Everyone stepped up and made it count, team is growing stronger and the team chemistry and brotherhood is exponentially rising.

##TEAM KRUSHERS STRONGER TOGETHER