Mr. Chapal...oh sorry, Chappell

Presentation Ceremony Pictures and Others

On 04/21/2007, PUCC held its annual banquet. It was that day Virtualy Reality was presented with the Championship trophies of Fall 2006, and Spring 2007 leagues. Here is the picture:
(from left: Harish, Kaushik, Karthik, Ashwin, Dr. Ravi, Moorthy, Jaggu, Yagna, Bharath, Krish. Sreeram is missing.)


We took the following picture immediately after the finals on 04/21/2007. Sreeram missed the match as he was on a conference trip.

WE ARE (VR) CHAMPIONS AGAIN!!!

We did it again. Virtual Reality have successfully defended their title by winning a pulsating encounter against PUCC.

The final week of the Spring Indoor League 2007 kicked off on Friday with a must-win game against Sachin 9. Having beaten PUCC earlier on Friday, Sachin and his boys were confident that they could pull it off against us.

Kicha, as always, called correctly, won the toss and elected to bat. Moorthy, who barely made it from Turkey, minutes before the match opened the innings with Kicha. The openers started scratchily playing out Midhun with respect. There were no free runs in the form of extras offered. So some steady batting, good running and a few lusty blows from Jaggu ensured that our bowlers have a decent target to bowl at. It was time for our bowlers to have crack at their batsman. It was always going to be a close match but we always fancied our chances of defending the score coz v knew v had a good bowling attack.

Moorthy and Jaggu shared the new ball. People who expected Moorthy to still be dreaming about Kababs were wrong as he was spot on in the very first over. Jaggu was the one who gave us the earlier break through. After two overs, Ashwin decided to preserve our strike bowlers to the end and bought in himself, Yagna and Koushik to bowl. Our rustiness showed on the field. The usually reliable Yagna bowled an unusually long over with more than just a couple of wides and surprisingly failed to cut a boundary at mid-off. Kicha was livid and in his characteristic manner started yelling from short third man. The match was going to the wire. Some good depth bowling by Jaggu and Moorthy and some good catching from Koushik at long off helped us win the match and nearly book our place in the final.

When our opponents didnt show up on Saturday morning we knew we were in the final. We were out to prove that ‘our victory in the fall semester was not mere fluke ‘and what better way to prove that than by winning the final against PUCC. Kicha spun the coin this time, lost the toss and we were invited to bat.Krish and Moorthy opened our innings as always. It was action from the first over. Krish was run out in a controversial circumstance. In came Bharath, who started middling the ball. Moorthy was growing in confidence. Just when they were getting settled, Bharath , thanks to some bad communication was run out .Worse was to follow as Moorthy had a mix up with Karthik and he was soon back in the hut. Our minds went back to Ashwin’s words appreciating our running on Friday and how he had expected us to show the same maturity in the final. Jaggu however was there in the middle timing the ball beautifully. He had a runner with him for a few overs as he had taken a knock in the knee. Inzi might have must have been proud of Jaggu who did an ‘Inzamam’ by forgetting to run thinking he had a runner. What was Jaggu doing admiring his shot? The answer remains a mystery! We kept loosing wickets though we were maintaining a good run rate. A god last over (12 runs) helped us reach 68.we had lost 6 wickets all through run outs. It was upto Moorthy, Jaggu and the rest of our bowlers to do their job. The left right opening combination gave some problems. Both our opening bowlers were a little erratic in their line. Wickets fell at regular intervals. With 6 overs left PUCC had to score around 7 runs per over. Vijay stood between us and victory. Ashwin bowled an over of his leg spinners. Vijay and Shantanu played him easily taking advantage of a couple of half trackers. Was the match slipping away from our hands? It was there that Koushik made his presence felt by bowling two tight overs. Karthik and Bharath put pressure on the batsman with their tight fielding. Moorthy was brought back for one last over and he delivered by getting the big fish ‘Vijay’ bowled. Victory was within our grasps. In the last over 12 needed, and we knew we were almost there at the finishing line. When Karthik stumped KK off Ashwin it was all over. We were champions again. We had come from behind, beating PUCC , having lost to them earlier in the tournament. Victory tasted sweet. All of us had a small part to play. I felt really bad for Sriram who missed the games coz he had to go for a conference. Victory would have been sweeter if you had been there Sriram.

We had a real good season. This in very likelihood is the last match that we will play together. Ashwin and Krish might be leaving next season. Yagna and others might follow soon. But thanks for the memories and for making a fresher like me feel comfortable in his first season at Purdue. I am sure that Koushik and Karthik would also agree with me. Hope we can play cricket on at least two or three more occasions before you guys leave…

Thanks for the wonderful memories.

By

Harish.S