It was literally a nail biting match as Vigneshnathan(EEE) and Ramesh(ECE) were biting them for most of the time. EEE under the captainship of Vigneshnathan got most things correct but his opposite number Jeyamohan got things correct just when needed and crusied ahead in this great cricket match.
EEE won the toss and preferred to chase the target. The openers Jeyamohan and Ramesh fell cheaply, the former to a run out and the latter to an over ambitious pull shot. Murugesan also did not last long. However Senthamil Sakthivel and Manoj played steadily. The scoreboard got ticking thanks to the duo and some insipid bowling by Vignesh and Elavarshan, who together contributed more than 20 extras. Subash brought in his leg spinners and after being hit for a couple of fours got Manoj and Doora in the next two balls. Thirupathy succumbed in the next over (caught beautifully by Anandraj) and so did Senthamil. EEE gathered the much needed momentum and soon sent Naveen and Anandakumar thanks to the medium pace of the short duo of Anand and Vignesh. Suddenly 81/3 became 88/9. Velmurugan and Prashanth batted patiently and helped the team reach 100. But it was all over in 18.4 overs and ECE was bowled out for 107.
In the half time, Vigneshnathan sounded optimistic and was sure that his batsmen would deliver the goods. Jeyamohan said that he was prepared for the EEE batsman and gave his team a chance with his bowling strength. Vigneshnathan and Anandraj opened the batting for EEE as Ramesh and Jeyamohan opened the bowling also for ECE. Things were going pretty smooth for EEE till the last ball of the 6th over. Ramesh who tried hard was finally rewarded when Vigneshnathan hooked a full toss to fine leg, where Prashanth held a stunner in his left hand. Velmurugan's next over turned to be more than productive as he had Anandraj and Elavarashan in successive deliveries. While Murugesan held the catch of the tournament covering more than 20 metres on the wrong side and grasping it with a dive, Thirupathy showed great reflexes to take a quickie. The fourth wicket partnership worked for the EEE department as well. Dhanush and Mithun with their contrasting styles plundered the ECE bowling attack. Mithun in particular was merciless and hit five successive boundaries in a span of two overs. The battle seemed over, but ECE guys were catching beautifully. Manoj who came up with slow medium forced Dhanush to edge a delivery which was snapped by Doora in a sniff. Manoj then took a stunner at cover to get rid of Mithun. Saravana Kumar was mankaded a couple of balls later and suddenly the match seemed wide open. However with 12 runs needed from 36 balls and 4 wickets in hand, not many gave ECE a chance. But Ananda Kumar who was bowling a wide per two balls produced a beautiful over where he docked the stumps of T.K.Viknesh and Ashok in a space of two deliveries. Suddenly there was a momentum shift and in the next over Velmurugan castled Karthik. There were nervous moments for the last wicket pair of Subash and Vignesh, but Manoj produced a beauty of a delivery to breach Subash's defence.
If you expected delirium, it wasnt to happen. Though the ECE were in delight and EEE in despair, they controlled the emotions and shook hands in true sportsmanship. D.Saravanamoorthy, our PD expressed that this spirit of sportsmanship was the high point of the game. He also commended the catching of ECE, the fielding of Dhanush and the all round abilities of Manoj and Mithun.
One of the enjoyable aspects of the game was the commentary of our Lecturer Pon. Rathnavel, a freelance commentator and columnist. He had the audience in splits with his humorous digs on the proceedings and there was times when even the players bursted out.
Nonetheless it was a fitting finale to the games segment of our inaugural Sports Day. With this win, ECE also emerged the top team pipping CSE by five points.
ECE 107 all out in 18.4 overs (Manoj 19, Senthamil 17, Vignesh 3/37) beat EEE 101 all out in 16.4 overs (Mithun 37, Dhanush 14, Velmurugan 3/18)
