Cricket-Seychelles Chairman’s XI thrash Indian navy team |22 December 2011

Thanks to disciplined bowling, the Chairman’s XI won the match by 105 runs.
Winning the toss, Chairman’s XI skipper Arup Das elected to bat first. On a hot dry wicket and warm batting conditions, the Chairman’s XI openers Kaushal and Patrick provided a steady start for the team.

Kaushal was bowled for 14 runs after hitting 2 fours, while Patrick, who was unable to continue his innings, made 18 runs after he was retired out in the 12th over. Arvind provided solid hitting with 3 fours and a six in his innings of 41. Despite the fall of the upcoming batsmen cheaply – Jonathan and Ramesh – it did not stop the Chairman’s XI from reaching a fantastic total. This happened mainly due to a 50-plus run stand for the 5th wicket between Mayur and Vijesh. Mayur played a blazing knock as he smashed 50 runs off 30 balls, including 3 sixes and 3 fours, while Vijesh contributed 9 runs.

At the end of the innings the Seychelles Chairman’s XI had put on 177 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 25 overs with a contribution of 37 extras from the Indian navy bowlers.

For the Indian navy only, Akshay Kumar, MS Bisht and Imran Ahmed picked up 1 wicket each.

The Indian navy run chase was a cautious one but very ineffective as the asking rate easily rose to above 8 by the 7th over. After that wickets fell regularly as the target seemed too far away for them. Opener Vishuvardan managed double-figure score, making 15 runs with 1 six, and DS Chahar made 10 runs and finally the Navy ship team folded for 72 runs.

So 178 were far too high for the Indian navy to chase and the Seychelles Chairman’s XI won the match by 105 runs.

This victory was mainly due to disciplined bowling from the Chairman’s XI bowlers led by Mayur from the front with economical figures of 1 for 5 in 3 overs. Support was also provided by Ricky (2 wickets for 8 runs in 3.2 overs), Kaushal and Arvind who picked up 2 wickets each for 18 runs in their respective 5-over spells, Arup and Byron 1 wicket each in their 2-over spells.

With his unbeaten 50 runs and very restricted bowling, Mayur took the man-of-the-match title.
After the match, the navy commander presented a memento to Arup Das and in exchange the navy team received some nice-looking caps from chairman of Seychelles Cricket Association, Jonathan Paul.