Entourage loses to Cover Drive (4/18/15)

Cover Drive Innings: 145/4 (Durlab 67 (32), Billy 37 (39), Sohail 4-0-13-1, Nabeel 4-0-14-1)

Entourage Innings: 115/8 (Sanket 33 (44), Hari Srinivas 27 (27), Roy 4-0-12-2, Bhaibav 4-0-26-2)

MOM: Durlab for his powerful 67

MVP: Hari Srinivas for his good spell bowling in death overs and 27 runs

1st Session: Entourage started good by restricting Cover Drive to a mere 23/2 in the powerplay overs. Both Sohail and Nabeel bowled brilliantly to contain them. Durlab, a youngster who resembles Jag in his hard hitting style took against the bowlers and deposited the ball over the boundary six times (one of them went into a house – an easy 95+ meters) in his quick 67. Due to an umpiring error he had a life during his 30s when Sunil edged him for caught behind. While, he was dealing in boundaries against the slower bowlers after the reprieve, Entourage restricted the other batsman Billy Khan from rotating the strike. During the death overs, Hari Srinivas bowled smart, took Durlab’s wicket and restricted them from scoring at 10 an over.

2nd Session: Entourage started good going at 6 an over. But quick wickets of the openers brought in some caution to the batting unit. Sanket proceeded to fend off the good bowlers initially, while Hari Chirra was timing the ball well. But 3 quick wickets just when Entourage started scoring boundaries made the attack slow. With Hari Srinivas providing a good reprieve, Sanket also attacked the bowlers. His wicket during the 15th over put too much pressure on Hari and the tail. Finally, the lack of big hitters resulted in Entourage finishing at 115/8 . Bigger difference – Cover drive took all of their 4 catches.

Positives: New unit gelled together, cohesive appreciating unit, fighting attitude till the last ball

Areas of improvement: Too many extras (18 wides), the redundant catches win matches, 3 of the top 5 batsmen have to score at least 30.