Story Success From Nowhere -An Unimagined Story! -India Green and Me Start off,how?

[rahuldravidfan]

Wonderful thread Gary. Great work with the story. Very well written. And an awesome presentation style. Keep up the good work

 

[Aditya]

Nice update Gary,Loved the style of scorecard simple but very effective. Badri again proved showed that he is perhaps one of the great players playing in domestic circuit in India anyway waiting for your team first match hope to see you in playing 11.

 

[surendar]

Like how others are confused, even I am confused! Not for the story, but the reason behind Badri's entry into the main team in reality. Even Gaurav should be having some tactics to enter Indian team XI before Badri?

 

[hedger_14]

Nice update there mate. Unlucky for Khadiwale to get out on 99 and a good innings from Badrinath. Keep up the great work.

 

[CG123]

Very good update yet again.
Nayar got an absolute belting...
H. Singh and Sreesanth were great with the ball, in a losing cause.
Good luck to you next match.

 

[Gary123]

Chapter 5

Luck By Chance!

This was it for me! I just couldn't sleep whole night thinking about whether I will be selected or not? In the morning,the whole squad was practicing at the ground but I seemed to be the only one who didn't knew what was happening. I took a deep breathe and told to myself - 'I have to be optimistic here. Let's hope for the best.' After the practice,we moved towards the dressing room. Still no signs of any confirmation of who will play and who will warm the benches. As I couldn't control myself,I indirectly hinted Raina to announce the team for the match. I told Srivastava in a sarcastic manner that today I'll be picked over him. Raina was standing in the corner of the dressing room as he heard me say. He looked at me and smiled. It had to be a positive sign for me. An hour later, Raina called everyone at one place and said - 'C'mon boys,get ready! Here is the team for today's encounter - Me,Parthiv,Manoj,Rahane......(I was like shivering now)....Irfy bhai,Jakati,Balaji.....(I thought it's all over now ).....Pankaj,Dhawal.......(Srivastava looked at me in quite an angry way as his name wasn't called as yet).....Kulkarni,Tanmay.....(I just couldn't control now and....I interrupted - 'And? Who is he?' .....Raina said -'And he is...........Anirudha.' It felt terrible. :doh Raina said to me - 'Don't worry. You'll get a chance if someone doesn't perform today.'

It was me and Saurabh Tiwary who were left out. Still there was a quite a lot of time to go for the match. We both knew our job now. A very good job to carry the drinks on the field. :sarcasm All other 11 men were chilled out. Infact,Saurabh wasn't too bothered himself. (Might be he had the experience to deal with such situations) I was the only one who felt left-out really. We all went for the lunch. There,I tried to attract the attention of the skipper. This time I told Irfan something. In a light manner I said - 'Irfan bhai, mai aapse acchi bowling kar sakta hu aapko pata hai?' ('I can bowl better than you,do you know that?') Irfan laughed and replied - 'Good yaar! Let's see when you are given a bowl.' I looked at Raina to see what he made of all this! But,no reaction whatsoever from him. All had their lunch and were back to the ground. Match was about to begin in an hour.

Raina once again confirmed the team. Everyone were there except one man. Raina shouted, 'Where is Anirudha?' :confused: No one had any answer. We all looked at each other in dismay. After 5 minutes or so, Anirudha was seen coming out from the lavatory. :laugh He didn't look good. He was holding his stomach and said to Raina - 'Seems like I won't be able to play today. There is a bad stomach-ache and I've got loose motions.' (I thought in my mind - 'When you'll eat overload what else will happen? :sarcasm) Some hopes came my way there. Raina said - 'Ok. You take care of your health. We need an opener now....' I literally jumped up and said - 'I'm an opener.' :banana2 Raina said - 'Yes,so you'll play today.' 'Really? Yesssssss!', I was overjoyed. :happy I thanked Raina and told Anirudha to get well soon. Finally,Luck had again favoured me By Chance.

Q - In what range will Gaurav score?
Options -
A) 1-10
B) 11-30
C) 31-70
D) 71-above

Winner gets 5,000 vcash.

 

[Prithvi]

11 to 30 is my prediction..!!
BTW, when will YOU get loose motions

 

[Ollie_H]

hmm.. the usual storyline I see, player not selected then something happens and he gets selected. This character seems a bit arrogant, can't imagine hid team mates are gonna like him too much!

 

[CG123]

Q - In what range will Gaurav score?
I'll go with a duck... :sarcasm
You're pretty optimistic not having that as one of the options.
In all seriousness I'll go with A) 1-10.

 

[surendar]

Yes, Very optimistic Gaurav that he doesn't want duck. If duck would have been there, I would have given it as my first preference Since it's not there, B) 11-30 will be my go.

And Gary, you could have mentioned as " Stomache upset " in one word than explaining the whole process Keep up the great works

 

[Gary123]

I would have given it as my first preference

:

And Gary, you could have mentioned as " Stomache upset " in one word than explaining the whole process

I thought that might make the readers clear of what actually happened.

 

[Harishan]

Another great update Gary! Keep up the good work.
I'm predicting that you'll score between 31-70.

 

[hedger_14]

I'll go with C) 31-70. I reckon you'll get 48. Anyway, lucky you got selected as you were put in due to the other player being sick. KUTGW.

 

[Gary123]

NKP Salve Challenger Trophy 2009-10

Match 2​

NKP Salve Challenger Trophy
Match 2
India Green Vs. India Red
Venue -VCA Stadium,Nagpur
Date -9 Oct,2009


India Green

Gaurav Aggarwal

Parthiv Patel (WK)

Ajinkya Rahane

Suresh Raina (C)

T.Srivastava

Manoj Tiwary

Irfan Pathan

Shadab Jakati

Pankaj Singh

L.Balaji

Dhawal Kulkarni


India Red

Shikhar Dhawan

Murali Vijay

Harshad Khadiwale

S.Badrinath (C)

Wriddhiman Saha (WK)

Ravindra Jadeja

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Ravichandran Ashwin

Ishant Sharma

Munaf Patel

Sudeep Tyagi

Badrinath on attack.​

Suresh Raina won the toss and elected to bat straight-away on a good-looking batting surface. It was me and Parthiv to open the innings. I was off the mark right away. After first over,we were 4 for no loss. At the start of 2nd over,Parthiv was at the strike. Ishant Sharma bowled an exceptional delivery and Parthiv tried to play a lofted shot. That went staight to the fielder and.......and he dropped it. We changed the strike and next ball Ishant bowled was an absolute beauty as it hit the toe-end of my bat as I was about to drive and same fielder caught it. My very first innings ended at 2. I walked back in the pavillion with my head low,but Raina and Srivastava made me feel a lot better and told me to relax.

We were in real trouble as we lost 3 wickets in a jiffy and were 18 for 3 in 5 odd overs. Ishant Sharma was bowling a firy spell as he had taken all the 3 wickets and was looking really dangerous. Raina and Tanmay were at the crease and they steadied the ship somewhat. But,we lost Tanmay just at the wrong time as Jadeja took him and was caught by Ishant(again). : Manoj Tiwary joined Raina in the middle and played his shots tight from the word 'go'. He along with Raina put on a 119-runs partnership as we could manage a modest total of 217 for 7 in our respective 50 overs with Raina being unbeaten at 89 off 134 deliveries.

To defend 217 we needed to get off to a good start. Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay started well as they were 7 for no loss in 1st over. Balaji got the first breakthrough for us as he trapped Dhawan in front of his wickets. That made in-form Khadiwale to come in. They were 23 for 1 off 5 overs,when I saw Raina moving towards me. He came and said - 'You're good with the bowl,aren't you?' (Threw the ball towards me). I just nodded and went over to bowl. Khadiwale was still to get his eye in,so he played a lot defensively. I bowled at some tight areas and made the ball do a bit. My first over was a maiden one. :banana2 That was pleasing for me as I couldn't do much with the bat. Vijay and Khadiwale batted sensibly and took India Red to 50 for 1 after 11 overs. I was again handed over the ball for the 12th over. Vijay pounced on me in that over as I bowled two very wide deliveries. That over cost us 9 runs. In the 18th over,Irfan bhai got us the wicket of Vijay as he edged the ball to Parthiv. They were 88 for 2 when skipper Badrinath walked at the centre.

Khadiwale and Badri were batting with ease and looked in no hurry whatsoever. In the 27th over Jakati took the wicket of Khadiwale who was on 46. Wriddhiman Saha came in to replace Khadiwale. Both the batsmen easily knocked the ball in the gaps and the required run-rate always seemed to be dropping down. In the 36th over I was made to bowl with only under 3 runs required per over. I couldn't do much but still tried my best. In the end,Badri and Saha easily managed to pull a win chasing the modest total as Badrinath once again played a captain's knock.

My bowling figures didn't look too good seeing the context of the game. We lost the match and I was kicking myself as I thought this may well be my first and last chance. I just tried to calm myself and believed in 'whatever will happen,it will happen for the good.'

Ishant Sharma for his excellent spell was named the Man of the Match.

INDIA GREEN innings

Player              Status                        Runs  Blls  4s   6s    S/R
Gaurav Aggarwal     c. Kumar       b. Sharma        2     5    0    0   40.0%
Parthiv Patel       lbw            b. Sharma       13    16    2    0   81.3%
Ajinkya Rahane      c. Dhawan      b. Sharma        3     5    0    0   60.0%
Suresh Raina        not out                        89   134    2    4   66.4%
T.Srivastava        c. Sharma      b. Jadeja       33    43    2    1   76.7%
Manoj Tiwary        lbw            b. Jadeja       53    73    4    0   72.6%
Irfan Pathan                       b. Kumar         1     4    0    0   25.0%
Shadab Jakati       st Saha        b. Ashwin       12    19    0    0   63.2%
Pankaj Singh        not out                         1     1    0    0  100.0%
L.Balaji                                          
Dhawal Kulkarni                                   
 
 Total:  217/7       Overs:  50.0          Run Rate:  4.34      Extras:  10    
  
                                     -X-

INDIA RED Bowling

Player               Overs   Mdns    Runs   Wkts      E/R    Wds    NBs
Sudeep Tyagi         10.0      1      34      0      3.40     0      1 
Ishant Sharma        10.0      1      44      3      4.40     0      0 
Bhuvneshwar Kumar    10.0      0      32      1      3.20     0      0 
Ravichandran Ashwin   5.0      0      30      1      6.00     0      0 
Ravindra Jadeja      10.0      0      37      2      3.70     0      5 
Munaf Patel           5.0      0      38      0      7.60     0      2 
 
 
EXTRAS           Wides: 0      No Balls: 8      Leg Byes: 2      Byes: 0 

Total: 217/7          Overs: 50.0         Run Rate: 4.34      Extras: 10 
                                     -X-
 

INDIA GREEN Partnerships

Batsmen                                                            Runs (Balls)
G Aggarwal    P Patel      ?                                          5 (8)
A Rahane      P Patel      ??                                         8 (11)
S Raina       P Patel      ?                                          5 (14)
S Raina       T.Sri'tava   ??????????????                            50 (70)
S Raina       M Tiwary     ???????????????????????????????????      119 (150)
S Raina       I Pathan     ?                                          1 (8)
S Raina       S Jakati     ????????                                  28 (37)
S Raina       P Singh      ?                                          1 (2)


     Fall of Wickets    5/1       13/2      18/3      68/4      187/5
                        188/6     216/7                                   

 Total:  217/7       Overs:  50.0         Run Rate:  4.34     Extras:  10   
  
                                     -X-

INDIA RED innings

Player              Status                        Runs  Blls  4s   6s    S/R
Shikhar Dhawan      lbw            b. L.Balaji     10    13    1    0   76.9%
Murali Vijay        c. P Patel     b. Pathan       44    62    6    0   71.0%
Harshad Khadiwale   c. Kulkarni    b. Jakati       46    61    4    0   75.4%
S.Badrinath         not out                        64    79    4    1   81.0%
Wriddhiman Saha     not out                        39    55    4    0   70.9%
Ravindra Jadeja      
Bhuvneshwar Kumar    
Ravichandran Ashwin  
Ishant Sharma        
Munaf Patel          
Sudeep Tyagi         
 
 Total:  221/3       Overs:  44.0          Run Rate:  5.02      Extras:  18    
  
                                     -X-

INDIA GREEN Bowling

Player               Overs   Mdns    Runs   Wkts      E/R    Wds    NBs
L.Balaji             10.0      0      52      1      5.20     1      0 
Irfan Pathan         10.0      0      38      1      3.80     0      1 
Dhawal Kulkarni       5.0      0      26      0      5.20     1      0 
Gaurav Aggarwal       5.0      1      23      0      4.60     1      1 
Shadab Jakati        10.0      0      46      1      4.60     2      2 
Pankaj Singh          4.0      0      28      0      7.00     1      0 
 
 
EXTRAS           Wides: 6      No Balls: 4      Leg Byes: 5      Byes: 3 

Total: 221/3          Overs: 44.0         Run Rate: 5.02      Extras: 18 
                                     -X-
 

INDIA RED Partnerships

Batsmen                                                            Runs (Balls)
S Dhawan      M Vijay      ???????                                   20 (26)
Khadiwale     M Vijay      ????????????????????????                  68 (78)
Khadiwale     S.Bad'nath   ?????????????                             37 (55)
W Saha        S.Bad'nath   ???????????????????????????????????       96 (105)


     Fall of Wickets    20/1      88/2      125/3               
                                                                          

 Total:  221/3       Overs:  44.0         Run Rate:  5.02     Extras:  18   
  
 
  
 
                                     -X-

INDIA GREEN          217/7     50.0 overs
INDIA RED            221/3     44.0 overs
   
India Red won by 7 wickets
  
Man of the match: Ishant Sharma

The winner -

I'll go with A) 1-10.

 

[CG123]

Unlucky there, both individually and with the team.
I. Sharma done the damage at the top of your order, and you never really got enough runs to defend.
Keep up the good work.