Feats by cricketers to savour

The first generated the headline “Narine opens batting in big KKR victory.” In the match against Kings XI Punjab, Sunil Narine, after bowling an economical spell of 1 for 19 in his four overs, opened the batting with his captain Gautam Gambhir and scored 37 in 18 balls (four fours and three sixes) to lay the foundation for a successful chase by the Kolkata Knight Riders. By the time he got out, KKR was well on the way to victory. Narine duly won the man-of-the-match award.

The second headline, “Pollard 50 overcomes Badree hat-trick,” captured it well.

Batting first, Samuel Badree’ team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) scored a below par 142 for 5 in its 20 overs. But Badree made it seem formidable by reducing Kieron Pollard’s Mumbai Indians to 7 for 4 in the third over, taking a hat-trick in the process. By the time he completed his spell in the eighth over, his figures were 4-1-9-4 and the Mumbai Indians were reeling on 33 for 5, needing 110 runs from 12 overs. Enter Pollard.

Playing with a maturity we wish he would show more often, he skillfully manipulated the middle overs while scoring a brilliantly calculated 70 off 47 balls, leading his side to victory.

According to the commentary on ESPNCricinfo, “But for a brief period, Badree masked everything frail about RCB and produced the sort of magic you don’t come back from. Not unless you’re Pollard.” Pollard was awarded manof- the-match. Had RCB won, Badree would surely have got it.

With so little to cheer about our cricket, it certainly warmed our hearts to see our local boys excelling on the world stage. We look forward to many more sterling performances.

NOEL KALICHARAN