LFL Quarter-final 4: AV Group vs Globrix Consultants

Brief Scores

Globrix Consultants:                            122 all out in 19.3 overs

                                                            Kunal 36 (32)

                                                            Paras 32 (32)

                                                            Kunj 3/13 (3.3)

                                                            Sahaan John 3/17 (4)

                                                                                                                                               

AV Group:                                            3 / 128 in 15.5 overs

                                                            Kunj 42* (32)

                                                            Dilshad 40 (22)

                                                                                               

Man of the Match:                                 Kunj Sharma (AV Group)

Best Performer:                                    Kunal (Globrix Consultants)

Complete Scorecard:                            http://bit.ly/1xcSF3z

AV Group Complete Crushing Win, Emerge as Title Favorites

On the back of 3 wins, Globrix Consultants carried a lot of confidence into this game. AV Group, with their solid bowling unit and explosive top order batting, also came in with momentum on their side. This was clearly a clash of heavyweights with both teams expecting to win. The clinical ease with which AV Group went on to subdue the Globrix batsman, however, and shut the game out was as emphatic a statement of power as AV could possibly issue the other semi-finalists that lay in wait. They were now the favorites for the crown, and they were not here to be denied.

Kunj, Sahaan and Dilshad (l to r), the top AV Group bowlers

Globrix, on their part, did not concede the fight early. In spite of losing their opener-captain and best batsman Anuj in the 1^st over, clean bowled by the lively pace of Kunj, and then their other opener Mohit caught at deep cover off the same bowler’s next over, they put up a concerted fight for much of their innings. Kunal and Paras looked solid during the early spell, and constructed the first of two serious partnerships.

Kunal, Paras and Raghav Take the Battle to AV Group

Kunal, particularly, looked good for plenty from the time he lifted Wasim for a six over extra-cover off the last ball of the second over. He followed it up with a couple of swinging straight drives for a boundary and a six off Wasim’s next, before picking Kunj through cover in the 5^th. After the end of the Powerplay, the score read a less than impressive 36 / 2, but both batsman looked solid, and Paras was beginning to find his range too.

AV Group, however, were going to make runs hard work. Off-spinner Sahaan John threw down a maiden in the 7^th, and Kunal, forced to let the shackles loose in the next over, mistimed a pull shot off Dilshad to deep square leg, where Sahaan himself dropped the catch and conceded a boundary. Kunal doubled the tally with a streaky edge next ball, before becoming Sahaan’s first victim in the next over, clean bowled for 36 playing across the line.

Paras, who had been giving his partner most of the strike, finally took charge of the initiative in the 10^th, punishing loose deliveries from leg-spinner Yusuf for a straight four and a mid-wicket six. Raghav too opened his account in the 11^th with two sixes off medium-pacer Kamaldeep, first over long off then straight. In two weak overs, the complexion of the game had changed, and 77 / 3 looked healthy at the time.

AV Bowlers Strike Back, Trigger a Rapid Collapse

Kunj receiving the Man of the Match award

The promising partnership was cut short at the wrong time, as Wasim returned to pick up Raghav for 21 in the 14^th. Even still, with the score now 94, Globrix had a healthy launch-pad to mount a serious charge in the last six. From this point, however, the batting disintegrated rapidly, as the side lost their last seven wickets for 28, and ended up bowled out for 122. Sahaan struck a double blow in the 18^th, including the wicket of Paras (31), to finish with a healthy return of 3/17 from his quota. Dilshad (2/26) also picked up two in the next, before Kunj (3/13) wrapped up the innings with a caught and bowled.

Big Hitters Dilshad and Kunj Seal the Win

122 was never going to be enough for AV Group’s intimidating batting force. Seamers Ankit and VIshal, who had so far been the best new ball pair of the tournament, looked clearly desperate to make an early dent. The desperation cost them their radar, and a series of bad balls were punished by openers Mohsin and Dilshad for boundaries. Dilshad was finally snapped up by leg-spinner Mohit for 40 in the 5^th over, as the ball dipped and ripped past his forward defensive lunge and the wicket-keeper completed a rapid stumping. The score, however, already read 55.

The big-hitting Kunj came in at no 3, and with consecutive sixes off left-arm spinner Ali in the 8^th over, he took charge. He remained not out on 42, powered by four big sixes, and ably supported by Mohsin and then Sahaan, he saw his team home in the 16^th over. Kunj was deservedly the man of the match, and for Globrix Consultants, Kunal walked away with the Best Performer Award.

The victory for AV Group completed the line-up for the semi-finals, and for TCS it would take something special to deny them a place in the finals.