A ever-green Regal Champion champion fashions an easy victory for United against MCC in the 21015 Regal Semi-finals

MCC 87 all out in 19.3 overs (Sandeep 19, Zubair 15 n.o,  Sashi 5 for 14, Ali 2 for 19)
United 88 in 17.1 overs (Arvind Sundar-Rajan 27, Javed 22)

Just happened to see the score card from the semi-finals between MCC and United.   Awesome is the word that came to my mind to find out who shaped this fantastic win for United.

Here is a Regal verteran who has been struggling through the season.   He was smacked all around the park time to time by various opposition and frankly was beginning to question as to whether he can an effective bowler as he was before.  For someone who has been such a good, consistent batsman,  he was finding himself to be in no-man's land most of the time and frankly has not made the big scores like he used to do.  To cap it off, he had ignomy of walking out of the field during the last game between the two teams.  Couple of weeks back, he would have been thinking that this was the worst Regal season for him and what a turn around in a day.

Sashi

Look! what he did in his game.  He got five wickets for almsot nothing and that too against a very formidable full capacity MCC team and that too in a semi-final.  If this is not a champion performance, then what else can it be?  Am just talking about our Sashi Bhusan, who when it really mattered, had come up with a such a steller performance to steer his team to the finals.  I was so happy to note that he fashioned this win since he is one person who I want to perform well even against my team. Congrats champion on a great performance and am so happy for you and your adorable daugther who would have been so excited to hear your performance that day.

United was at the bottom of the table with two remaining games in the league and now they are in finals. Am sure that a few of the United folks would have pinched themselves to realize they are in the finals.   Although this was fashioned mostly by team United efforts, a few individuals stood out for their brilliance and steady-mindedness

It is for anyone guess that the first and foremost is Arvind Manjegowda, who with his sheer brilliance and flamboyance gave substance and confidence to the team when it mattered most.  He played three outstanding knocks towards the end, two of which I was privileged to witness as an umpire.   I will always be proud of his accomplishments as a past captain of him, which I consider as a great previlege.

Next comes Ali, who is my best new comer of the season. He was literally unplayble at times and consistently got top order batsmem, knocking their stumpts out or hurting them with great well directed in-swingers.  Ofcourse the entire United unit bowled admirably in the first six overs and  if you look at their last three wins, they literally choked the top order.  This was a big, big factor for their wins at the death.

Javed also came and rescued the team at the fag end of the league phase with great bowling and admirable batting performance, which befets a champion batsman like him. He is so pleasing to the eye and gets tons of runs, almost without being noticed with his great footwork.  Very dependable.

Arvind Sundar-Rajan

 But there were quite a few unsung heroes as well.  

Top of the list is Arvind Sundar-rajan for whom I have nothing but praise.  He is such a smart and canny cricketer and by keeping wickets at the top order, he did exceptional service for the rest of the middle order.  Mr. Dependable.

Lakshmi

Last but not the least,  a great and inspirational captain in Lakshmi, who sacrificed his chances and ensured that everyone in the team get enough rotation to be part of the team.  Trust me! It is not an easy job.  But really he did so well and his calm demeanor and ever present smiles makes a big difference to the team attributes. When you have captain like him, the rest of the team flounders around him like a flock of sheep with a can do attitude indeed.  That matters indeed in a team game like cricket as shown by their wins from behind.

Lakshmi obviously own a lot of thanks to Roshan,  who was right behind to support the captain and nudge him with finesse when the game going was tough.    Rest of the folks like Srini,  Amandeep (who is such a revelation with his all-round skills) and Ravi chipped in well right through the season as well.

Overwell a team that remain united were rewarded with yet another finals.

Coming to the game:

MCC batting first made only 87 and were all out in 19.3 overs.  I did not expect this from this full capacity MCC side.   Looks like only Sandeep (19 in 23 balls) and their captain Zubair coming in at number 10 (15 off 17 balls) made some contribution.   Sashi had remarkable figures of 4 - 0 -13 - 5. Yes indeed, five wickets and those wickets are Sandeep, Shaker (first ball LBW), Prasoon, Sukesh and Madhav. From the look of the score board, it looks after a decent start and then Sashi havocked the batting with wickets almost every ball.  Ali, one of the finds of this season, got two crucial wickets in the tormentor in the last game, Avinash and Adrien at the top order.

Chasing such a low score can be challenging, especially in a semi-final.  This is where the maturity and assurance of Arvind Sundar-rajan came along.  Lot of teams go for the top order blitz, but United has shown the way that a measured and calculated batting in the top order is key to make in-roads as we coast through the league phase.  Arvind stayed almost till the end, scoring 27 invaluable runs off 43 balls and was ably supported by Bhuvanesh (13 off 26 balls) and Javed who remained unbeaten with 22 off 22 balls.  Am guessing that the winning run were scored by our hero, Arvind Manajegowda as they won with nearly three overs to spare.

Very disappointing performance by MCC and I feel sorry for them.   Such amazing talent.  Yet when it mattered most, they could not group through.  Possibly because most the MCC members are also busy with the first division league.  Although Sandeep and their captain did their bit, it was just not enough against a smart and professional top order United batting.

Well done United and hard luck MCC.

Anyhow, we are now onto a cracker of a finals between Tigers and United.  I will try my best to be there to watch another memorable Regal finals.

Go Regal