Story c39_0823|Born to Fight for Success - A Journey with SA Redbacks, Innings 2 of WW Vs SA FC

[Left_Hander]

You seem to be one of the senior players, giving out orders already . At least you are confident. Raman and Karthik must think you are a genius because you kept on bugging him to bring on Ashwin

Great update, as always

 

[surendar]

This awesome idea just struck me, will Suren Ram by any chance get a lucrative IPL contract?

Well, I haven't thought about IPL.. also, I don't know how flexible is C04 to edit a tournament/players to form a IPL structure.

Thank you for the idea.. Binnu also pointed out this IPL thing some posts before. I will think over it. Thank you :hpraise

Great work Suren. I love the planning that has gone into this story thread. To use 2004 so well is a huge credit to you. Keep it going mate, again its the benchmark. Any other story writers have a good read of surens stories, it will help you with your own.

Cheers buddy,
MWaugh

It took a week time for me to decide that I should start the story with C04.. I am always a fan of EA C05 but, for some strange reasons, I switched back to C04 and I am glad that members like it.

Thank you again.

LOL, have some respect for your strike bowler dude

But awesome story, just read it from first page and it is as good as, if not better than, the journey to WC story.

Nice pics, nice story line. You get reps. KUTGW

Thanks and lol @ Balaji. I don't know, for some reason I hate bowlers like Balaji, RPSingh, A.Nehra and Munaf Patel.


:happy :hpraise Thank you everyone for the wonderful comments and views :hpraise :happy

Updates of Day2's play coming tomorrow.. Stay Tuned.

 

[Roofrom50]

Looking forward to this update mate.

 

[surendar]

(8) Tamil Nadu vs Maharashtra - End of Day 2.
​

May 04, 2009
Time - 05:30 AM​

It was my alarm again which woke me up at morning 5:30. Unlike day-1 where I got up very late, I sat on the bed with panic face as soon as the alarm ring disturbed my sleep. After the evening practice at the end of Day 1, we just slept in our hotel rooms with great tiredness. To refresh myself I went for a short morning walk in the fresh early morning climate. On my way back to the hotel, I took a hot coffee which refreshed my mind further.

Everyone started to get ready for the Day 2's play. While leaving to the stadium, our coach asked us to have just a light breakfast. We discussed some strategies on our way and our main focus remained on restricting our opponents to 250-300. We entered the stadium at 9 AM and without wasting any time, we started practicing.

May 04, 2009
Time - 10:00 AM​

The day was very bright with warm sunshine. There was no change in weather and it looked the same as how it was on Day 1. It was just before the beginning of Day 2's play, I spoke to Karthik & Raman about the spin options we had.

However Karthik said, " When the ball is new, we can't take risk in giving a hard new ball to spinners. Let the ball become soft a bit and then we will see about the spin options. With some moisture expected on the ground, our strike bowlers like Balaji and Yo Mahesh should be the good options! ".

On hearing this, Ashwin came near me and tapped my shoulders and smiled. I was busy thinking at that time, " Balaji... :what Strike bowler? :confused: Slow so called pace bowler going to utilize the moisture? : Karthik is just dreaming! ". Soon, we got the call from the umpires and we just walked into the ground cheering each other.

Yo Mahesh's Deadly Spell!

However, Balaji looked hopeless with the ball
​

The ball was given to Yo Mahesh straight away. Karthik had a very attacking field. I was made to stand in second slip position. I was happy to stand there and was eagerly waiting for the ball to come to my hands. Mahesh looked very dominating with the new ball. The ball looked to travel very fast from behind. No wonder that batsmen were just struggling to make a correct contact with the ball.

There were some edges which didn't carry towards the slips and some of them went quickly towards the third slip as well. Since we did not have third slip, I made some attempts to save runs and I manage to save some of them too. It was Yo Mahesh who looked threatening but not Balaji. Lakshmipathy Balaji was just running and delivering the red colored ball and batsmen seemed to have no problems with that bowler. Infact, they smashed him for some boundaries as well.

Bhosale's Dangerous Innings took the game away from TN!

We fielders got tired in running under hot sun! :
​

Mahesh though looked threatening was not fortunate enough to get the early break throughs.. Karthik also stopped Balaji and brought bowling changes. Suresh(medium pacer) and Ganapathy were also introduced but nothing went in favor of Karthik.

Shrikhande who was supposed to be their hard hitting batsmen surprisingly maintained his patience. He was giving a solid support to dangerous looking Bhosale. The latter raised his fifty and the lunch time also came near. I was completely surprised that Karthik did not make use of any spinners and it was just around 20-30 minutes for a lunch break.

Once again I went towards Karthik in end of overs break and asked him what was he going to do next? " We need a break-through and it didn't still happen to us.. By the way they are going, I don't think pace will do trick any more.. Lets fancy in bringing Ashwin back? or we have Suresh Kumar ( spinner Suresh and not the pacer guy )too. ", I said to Karthik. Mukund also supported my point and Karthik introduced Ashwin. Unfortunately, there was no break through still.

It was just near the lunch time where I popped up again to Karthik about Kumar and that idea worked surprisingly. Shrikhande, for the first time went for a huge shot and Vidyut made a huge leap and ended up in catching the ball with one hand. It turned out as a brilliant catch. :hpraise

Bhosale Dismissed, but still Actions Continued in favor of Mahrashtra.

Kumar once again, providing a huge break through!
​

Kumar not only broke the 60 runs - 2nd wicket partnership, but also provided another wicket just before lunch. It was precious Bhosale's wicket. The dangerous looking Bhosale committed suicide by trying to go wild against Kumar but it ended up as a simple catch to the fielder. Then " Its time to lunch! ", was a call from umpire and we all walked back to our dressing room.

" You are champion minded! ", said Karthik to me. We got delighted to get the breakthrough before lunch. And in lunch break, the coach also gave a separate applause for my efforts in spreading my own ideas. :happy

Those words made me fly in some 7th cloud though I had to get back to present world. Spinners continued after lunch but once again, those batsmen started to settle down again. : Ashwin and Kumar tried their best to get their wickets but the batsmen stood cautious and played their role very well.

Left handed batsman cum captain, Paradhkar in-particular looked as dangerous as Bhosale. Maharashtra captain started to attack the spinners and we were clueless to stop the flow of runs. Karthik shuffled his bowlers but the partnership crossed 50 and looked so frustrating to our team.

It was Suresh who troubled Maharashtra's captain and got him out!

Things Happening Around ME !

I dropped the catch in previous over, &
compensated for it fortunately in the very next over!
( Please wait for the animated image to load.. Thank you for the patience )
​

It was Suresh Kumar's (spinner) where I went clueless in slips. Suddenly ball came towards me from Paradhkar's bat. I stood staring at it instead of bending down and catching the ball. Karthik gave a rude expression and I was removed from slips immediately. I know that I have dropped a huge wicket. Mah's captain looked so much threatening dropping him has NO EXCUSE! :

I was made to stand inside the circle. I was happy in very next over which was Suresh's ( medium pacer's ) over. The ball just came to me and the batsmen started to run. I ran quickly and collected the ball and threw it towards the bowler's hands. The bowler did not make any mistake in collecting the ball and removing the bails off. The batsman was run out by miles. Paradhkar was run out.

Karthik and some other guys came towards me and lifted me and celebrated the wicket. " You made it, once again champ! ", said Karthik. Again words which felt in my ears took me to the 7th cloud.. and once again I had to struggle hard to come back to present world!

Another Quick Wicket!

​

Jadhav, who was supporting the captain earlier was also sent to pavilion by Suresh. It was a normal delivery from Suresh which was going away from the batsman & Jadhav tried to pad it up.. Surprisingly there was a shout from the bowler & umpire raised his finger. " What's happening? : ", should have been in thoughts of the batsman.

The batsman was unfortunate as the replay suggested that it would have missed the off-stumps. However, batsmen once again started to settle down and started to build a partnership and we went for the tea break. It was a short break where we majorly tried to relax ourselves and tried to bring back the momentum.

After tea break, Karthik shuffled the spinners and pacers well. But Bawne and Waghmare patiently kept the scorecards moving. It was just around 35 minutes for that end of day's play when Balaji surprisingly brought the breakthrough. I could not believe that Balaji took the wicket.

The things after created some more surprises!

What??? :what :confused::what :confused:

Seriously, I did not understand anything!
​

Karthik suddenly called me and handed me the ball. " Com'on Suren, try some innovative things with the ball now.. You can do it! ", Karthik said to me and gave the ball. " I am not a bowler & I never bowled in matches! ", I said to my captain. " Everyone just learns now & then! ", he said.

I was not able to reply to my captain. I quietly got the ball and started to do some stretches. I was doing stretches this side and that side as if I was a expert bowler. :

I enjoyed & bowled something at the batsmen! :

​

Can you believe it? My first ball was smashed to the four.... : It was Waghmare.

However, I offered nice width to the batsman in that delivery. Karthik asked me to stick to stumps-stumps line. I was trying something with the fingers on ball which I myself didn't realize. I was happy that I was not attacked after the first delivery.

The day came to an end and I bowled 4 overs and gave away 7 runs. If the boundary had not come from that first ball, I would have had better figures. Or may be, batsmen did not want to fancy their chances since the match was going towards the end of 2nd day's play. :

ScoreCard, End of Day 2

​

With almost every batsmen of Maharashtra getting the starts, they were placed in the drivers' seat. Extra credits to Bhosale, captain and Waghmare for making the bowlers work too hard to control them. However, Waghmare still remains unbeaten and Maharashtra comfortably leads by 43 runs.

We took a small 10 minutes fielding practice and headed towards the dressing room. We were looking damn tired since we fielded the entire day. Hence we packed ourselves and left to our hotel rooms..

" You are champion minded! ", said Karthik to me.
" You made it, once again champ! ", said Karthik. Added to these two comments, applauses from my coach during the lunch break were my incentives of the Day 2. I was pretty happy with it because, I am gaining the confidence of my team in me.. which is looking good for the moment. However, the main test for me will be my batting when the remaining 4 wickets goes down for Maharashtra....

 

[age of the fall]

Interesting day, certainly had some good points and bad points. Must be gutted you dropped that catch, but the run out was a great compensation. Needs to roll them over early tomorrow so they can't extend there lead too much.

Get a Wicket for me tomorrow

 

[MuchMore]

Good going "Sachin in making"

I say, you will be the captain in 2 matches time after you hit Karthik in the head for not opening with a tail ender.

and ya, nice update. Decent storyline.

 

[Jaztheman]

Made up for your dropped catch, tahnkfully, then a decent spell with the ball which is better than first thought - due to the boundary off the first over. Haven't been active in this section for about a fortnight but fantastic to see this story still going strong.

Awesome stuff, Suren.

 

[Ollie_H]

Suren this story is incredible! I have been a quite reader so far but have no felt the needed to tell you how good i feel this story is! Possibly one of the best since I started posting on these forums!

 

[chaitanyaraghav]

Suren! this is a very good story.I've spent time reading everything from start and found out that the time is spent on reading this one is amazing!
keep going!I would love to see you in the indian squad!

 

[Left_Hander]

Your still in this game but you need to wrap the tail up in the morning quickly to have a chance.

 

[chaitanyaraghav]

yes.the tail should not score and the openers should fire!
will be looking forward to this!

 

[surendar]

(9) Tamil Nadu vs Maharashtra - End of Day 3.
​

May 04, 2009
Time - 09:30 PM​

After the Day 2's play, our team just had short time to relax ourselves before the dinner. Then we all rushed to the dinner where the random discussion topic on our team's bowling came up.

My captain and the coach were stressing about the improvements needed in fast bowling department. And they were planning up a visit to MRF pace foundation in Chennai and hunt for young talents. I should have kept my mouth quiet.. but, ................. I got into unnecessary trouble by opening my mouth! : I immediately interrupted and said, " Pace bowling is not POOR only in TN team but also it is horrible in our national level too! "

Raman asked, " What do you mean by Poor bowling, Suren? We do have quality pace bowlers like Balaji and Mahesh! They are future stars of India. " Atleast by now I should have kept my mouth shut. But i did not! :

" Future stars? In my opinion, I don't see it happening. Fast bowlers have lost their pace and this is a problem with our national level too. They call themselves as fast bowlers but they hardly deliver it fast. If we compare Aussies and SA, our bowling standards are far too behind. Sorry if it hurts our bowlers, but I felt like saying this. And this is the fact which remains unchanged after Srinath. i.e for around 10 years. We have found only one talented fast bowler which is Ishant Sharma. It surprises me that we are not able to get many talented Ishants over a decade. : "

As soon as I finished this, Balaji abruptly stood up and left the place. I felt bad. Coach and captain stressed us to stop the further discussions on cricket. We remained quiet and left to our rooms after dinner. I chipped into my coach's room and said, " I feel bit bad on my words! Balaji got hurt more I reckon! ". My coach asked me to think before I speak out. " You may be right, but you should not hurt anyone! Think before you give out the words! ", he said to me.

After all these confusions, I went to sleep.... Sleep did not come inspite of my tiredness but I forced it to come since I might have to bat soon with fresh mind on Day 3. Why many confusions are present always around me, I thought myself and closed my eyes.

May 05, 2009
Time - 10:00 AM​

T he Day 3 of our match came. I woke up with fresh mind and kept quiet without speaking a word. On the way to the stadium from hotel, though myself and Balaji happened to see each other in bus, I turned my face towards the window as i was embarrassed because of my words the other night. My ego did not allow me to ask apologies. : And I felt that each and every word I spoke was TRUE. Soon, we went into the field for the Day 3's play.

Finally We got them ALL OUT!

​

Their batsmen started off the Day 3 in aggressive manner. In particular, Balaji was bowling in negative line and was getting punished. Waghmore was threatening like he was on Day 2. The keeper, Motwani gave him the good support too. Karthik was restless a bit with the things happening around him and the lead kept on increasing.

After the frustrating partnership, the wicket of Waghmore was obtained by Yo Mahesh. He finally got his reward for some good bowling. Karthik finally had something to cheer about. Then the momentum was continued by their keeper, Motwani and the score was approaching 350. The lunch time was also nearing but we were not able to put an end to Maharashtra's score.

Karthik tried his spin options - Ashwin and Suresh also but the things did not work right for Tamil Nadu. Nothing seemed to go right in our way. With great frustrations, Karthik gave the ball to me also. He used his worst option too. I was like, " What....... Why should I be introduced now? Especially, when the team needs a wicket badly, what can I do with my bowling? ", I asked Karthik. He said, " The ball is with you now, try whatever you want. I will give you the license. Even if 6 sixes are hit, don't worry! I am there to back you up. Just try to confuse the batsman even with some weird line. "

I continued to bowl and surprisingly, I GOT THE WICKET!!! I cannot believe that I got the needed breakthrough. The delivery which I bowled was an ordinary leg break but the wicket keeper, Motwani did not read it well. He went on to attack this poor guy who didn't even know how to bowl but he fell in his own trap! The catch was taken neatly and Karthik jumped on me with his gloves patting my head so hard! : I was also jumping with joy that I got my first wicket. " Now you know champ, why I gave you the ball? My 8th sense told me that you can get a break through! ".

A Quick Replay!

​

After Motwani's fall, we did not find any difficulties in removing the remaining tail of Maharashtra. We soon wrapped them for 357. We went into the dressing room for the change of innings.

It was around 20 minutes left for lunch and we were quite disappointed since our lead was more than 100 runs. Raman wasn't happy with the bowling since his initial thoughts were only around 70-75 runs lead. Now it is more than 100 runs and he seemed quite disappointed.

" Mukund and Suren, you guys have to cheer this dressing room. Situation is like, we have to outsmart them unlike the first innings where we let those bowlers to dominate us many times. You two had to give us a solid start so that our middle order can build a solid target for them. Lets keep our first focus on 50 runs without the loss of any wicket. Then lets try to stabilize that platform by moving towards 100 runs. We have to get rid of this lead as soon as possible and have to set a strong target giving our bowlers a little chance to bowl them out! Its your day boys.. Go and enjoy it! ", said by my coach to us. We geared up with the pads and bat and were ready to hunt those bowlers.

I closed my eyes and thought, " Hopefully everything goes right this time in my batting! " and we heard the call from umpires. We left the dressing room with many good wishes from our team lads.

The Thing Which We DONT WANT.

​

Since the ball was new, it was moving quite well. I stayed alert once again but Mukund felt once again in the trap. He edged to the slips and he returned to dressing room without score any runs. He got that KING PAIR! The lunch time was soon declared by umpires and I walked into the dressing room. The coach and captain were not happy since Mukund disappointed us once again. Badrinath and myself sat there with more pressure on us.

" Hopefully you guys don't disappoint us further! ", my coach said to us after the lunch break. We came again to bat but the things started to go only in Maharashtra's favor. Badrinath was clean bowled. The first innings hero went back to pavilion without making any big impact.

My worries increased further. I can't imagine my coach's thoughts. We have lost two wickets for just 15 runs. That too loosing Badri disturbed my mind more. He was the one who gave me lots of confidence in first innings. But I am being left alone now. With all those thoughts disturbing, I just missed one bouncer that sharply hit my helmet and I fell down on the crease. Bowler had some warm words with me and I was alright after few seconds.

" Lets build a good platform.. We will forget the bad start and lets play our natural game. ", is what I said to Vidyut who joined me after Badri's departure.

There was NO COMPLETE Recovery!

I tried to attack but I was left with NO SUPPORT
​

With great difficulties, I tried my mindset to be normal and play without pressure. Without my knowledge, I started to play quite fluently. The ball was coming on nicely to the bat and I tried to keep the scorecard moving fluently as well! In one of the short pitched deliveries, I just smashed Dole to an aggressive FOUR! I nodded my head towards the bowler with thoughts, " Get IT! " in my mind.

But on the other end, Vidyut who tried to support me left to pavilion as well. Enamul Haque, the aggressive spinner got his wicket, Vidyut. Vidyut tried to play across the line and he edged to keeper. I was quite disappointed to loose him as well. Vidyut played a crucial part in first innings as well. But he also left.

To everyone's surprise, even TN captain returned to pavilion without even touching the double figures. Our position was quite PATHETIC WITH 78/4. :

I TOOK A STEP FORWARD!

Fortunately, the things were working well for me!
​

" It is enough for looking forward to take an attacking step! You know what your coach said... 'Try to get over the Lead as early as possible!'. I have to shoulder this responsibility! ", my mind alerted me.

Like my mind commanded, I went bravely over the bowlers. I played some shots which I myself cannot believe those. The ball was coming on to bat nicely but I wondered why I was not getting any support from other end. I was able to see the ball getting disappeared in all the directions. Even if there was a light width, I did not hesitate to go over the bowler. I smashed those.

The fielding of Maharashtra was also of top class. Their fielders were trying for everything till the last second. This top class fielding effort always made me to run fast between the wickets without giving any rest to me. :

Last Hopes Shattered, TN : 119/8

​

Even Ashwin and Suresh who were supposed to bat a bit well, did not give any support to me. The bowlers were continuously dominating our batsmen. They didn't allow us to settle down. Dole and Fallah started to destroy the tail also. They not only got rid of Ashwin/Suresh but also got rid of Balaji/Ganapathy.

I stood clueless with the things going around me. Tamil Nadu was 119 runs for 8 wickets. I felt like going back to dressing room and shouting at everyone. The ball was coming on nicely to bat but I never understood the reason behind the batsman's failure.

I Never THOUGHT about THIS, CENTURY FOR ME???

​

It was near the tea time when I reached my century. I never realized that I was nearing the 100. I was just thinking about the small lead developed. I kept on discussing with Suresh alerting him in all the aspects I could.

Suddenly I saw my coach and captain applauding for my single. I was wondering and umpire told, " Well done! ". Then I realized that it was my first ever century! I never realized that I scored 80% of my team runs.

We went for the tea break. I did not speak a word to anyone. " This is what I can do atmost.. I don't understand why others could do to their atmost? :", I said to my coach in an angry tone. Myself and Suresh resumed after Tea. Suresh did exceptionally well to defend most of the balls and he tried his best to give the strike to me.

NO MERCY!

​

I also smashed couple of huge sixes. I never thought that I can strike a ball to such a distance. This kept the scorecard moving. I kept on alarming my partner, Suresh. Atleast he understood the situation and spent long time in the crease and gave a good support to me.

It was too hot also and I was getting exhausted bit by bit at the same time. I started to walk between the wickets instead of running. Their fielding was of top class through out. Sometimes, I found bit hard to find the boundaries between the fielders. Nevertheless the boundaries and the runs kept on coming from my bat and the score was 199 when umpires declared, " Its Stumps! ".

End of Day 3!

With One more day left, I walked helplessly INSIDE!
​

I realized that my score was 146. It was nearly 75% of my team's total. Seriously I am not able to believe that 'Cricket is a team's game! ' :

When I walked in, my coach and my captain came out applauding and said, " You champ! You have made a difference from an unnecessary crisis situation... Lets see what happens! ".

Inspite of being unbeaten on 146 runs on my second innings, I was taken the freedom to celebrate that century. When my team is in such a deep trouble, how can I enjoy this century? Can't I have any thing in life peacefully with happiness? : My mind continued to remain in a disturbed state.......

Some Highlights of the Shots I played!

​

TN : 199/8(Second Innings, 243/10)
Maharashtra : 357/10

Suren Ram : 146*
C. Suresh : 10*


Dole : 4/85
Fallah : 3/22


TN Leads by 85 Runs. TN needs a huge stroke of luck to prevent the crushing DEFEAT!

 

[Gary123]

Great update Suren also 146 on debut Great batting but you need to get a lot more to save your team.............. Seriously I am not able to believe that 'Cricket is a team's game! '

yup its only suren's game at the moment

 

[Roofrom50]

This is one of the best updates i have ever seen in PC history. And one of the longest updates in a story as well. It was absolute quality Great stuff from you mate, 146 on debut is a sensational start :happy

Once again, good update mate, and looking forward to the next one.

 

[surendar]

yup its only suren's game at the moment

That's what I was also wondering when I walked back inside.

This is one of the best updates i have ever seen in PC history. And one of the longest updates in a story as well. It was absolute quality Great stuff from you mate, 146 on debut is a sensational start :happy

Once again, good update mate, and looking forward to the next one.

Yeah, it was quite long and I was almost loosing patience in typing. It was long because, I had to fill the gap where I was not able to update for last 2 weeks.

:happy Thank you guys for the wonderful comments and views :happy