Dropped catches cost dear

23rd May, 2010, IISc Gymkhana Ground, Bangalore: Catches win matches says the age old maxim. Five dropped catches and an ordinary batting performance gave IISc their first defeat in five matches this season. True that Basvangudi Cricket Academy (BCA) - who had lost to IISc last week - came back with a team bolstered by a few KSCA Division-I and Division-II players while IISc was missing several of its key players. Still there are no excuses for elementary mistakes.

BCA batted first and posted 197/4 in 35 overs. Left-handed No.3 batsman Shreyas was the stand-out performer compiling an unbeaten ton. He was twice given reprieves courtesy butter-fingered catching from IISc. Abhilash also scored a quick-fire 46 again after an early reprieve.

IISc's riposte was aggressive. They were 82/2 in 10 overs as opposed to BCA's 38/2 at the same stage of their innings. But once Arindam perished after a blitzkreig fifty, the rest of the batting came a cropper against the BCA spinners. Sounik and Arjun made fighting thirties, but IISc simply didn't have enough fuel in the tank to go all the way. The innings folded at 175 allout, 23 runs short of the target. 

With many established players expected to return before the next match, team IISc hopefully would not have to see bad days like these anytime soon.

Brief Scores:

BCA - 197/4 in 35 overs

(Shreyas 101*, Abhilash 46, Sukruth 20, Teja 1/30, Arindam 1/31, Adarsh 1/38, Harsha 1/42)

IISc - 175 allout in 33.2 overs

(Arindam 51, Arjun 35, Sounik 31, Abhilash 5/22, Sukruth 2/14, Suraj 1/22, Mohan 1/30)

Result: BCA won by 22 runs

Man-of-the-match: Shreyas