RSC Mercilessly Slaughtered Penang State

Penang vs RSC

It was a wonderful Sunday morning at the Royal Selangor Club (RSC) as the teams arrived. Penang was faced with a tough task of toppling the home side on a pitch that favored neither side. Stand in captain for Penang, Varun Nadesh won the toss and elected to field on what looked to be a fairly poor batting track. The Penang team had a younger side than usual, as a few of the top guns were unavailable for this match up.

One of the top wicket takers of the recent MCA 2-day tournament, Kavin Kumar opened the bowling attack for Penang and was well supported by Harvind from the other end. RSC’s captain Rohan Vishnu was looking to try out all the foreigners that Kuala Lumpur (KL) had signed for the upcoming 50 over league and sent in one of the few Sri Lankans who had played first class cricket. Prashant opened the batting with youngster Virandeep Singh. Both batsmen had very shaky starts to their innings as they found it very difficult to find the middle of the bat. Despite all their efforts, the Penang side was deemed unlucky, as they could not find a way to break the opening partnership that was slowly setting in. A few edges that went through slips and gully eased the pressure of the batsmen. After a 4 over spell, Kavin was replaced by the left-arm orthodox, Thevan who had a very rough start as he failed to find his line or length, was hit for 2 fours in his first over that cost him 12 runs in total. Tharek Aziz was one of the KL juniors that were asked to play for the Penang Side that had an incomplete side and he was soon brought into the attack to replace Harvind after a 5-over spell. Just before the water break, Prashant showed why he’s not playing for Sri Lanka as he was struggling for breath by the 10th over and had to leave the field. The next batsman in was Suresh Singh who played off the remaining over before the water break. RSC was 56 for no loss in 13 overs.

Penang came back strongly after the water break. Thevan picked up two quick wickets. First to depart was Suresh Singh who has caught behind and Virandeep who was caught at covers the very next over. Vinay Singh was soon brought into the attack to create a left arm / right arm combination. Manjula who was another foreigner was in next with RSC veteran Suresh Sakadevan. Both new batsmen at the crease and the Penang bowlers were making it very tough for the duo to get on with proceedings. However a few drop catches behind the stumps and a few others, proved to be very costly as both new batsmen made it count. Nevertheless, Thevan and Vinay contained the batting duo as much as possible. Thevan ended woth figures of 2-32 and Vinay gave away 30 runs in his 8 overs with no wickets. Vinay Singh soon took over the gloves from Varun after the batting power play. Kavin was brought back into the attack for a quick and economical 2 over spell. Varun brought himself into the attack but was dispatched to the boundary with ease by the set batsman, Manjula. Suresh retired on 46 and foreigner Dulanga came to the crease. Set batsman Manjula went on to make his half-century and was supported by new batsmen Dulanga. Penang bowlers still fought back with Harvind and Kavin causing a lot of difficulties for the set batsmen. Towards the end of the innings, young left-arm orthodox bowler, Raakesh was brought into the attack and proved to be effective in his first over with Kavin running out set batsman Manjula. Durgesh was the next youngster to bowl as he picked up the wicket of Vivegan who has taken beautifully by the one of the RSC juniors, Saifullah. RSC ended with a whopping score of 236 in 40 overs.

Penang openers Varun and Tharek were faced with a tough task of chasing down the score with RSC’s deadly bowling attack. Current National A coach, Thusara Kodikara opened the bowling with KL opening bowler, Neville. The duo made batting very difficult for the openers as the both got the ball to swing and seam from the first ball. A misunderstanding between the openers had Tharek run out bringing in Jeeven who was given a stroke of luck when he had an inside edge that merely missed the stumps and eventually ran away to the boundary. Both batsmen showed some resistance but Varun was soon caught at covers trying to dispatch Pavandeep. Vinay was the next man in but was trapped LBW by Pavandeep. Unfortunately for the Penang boys, these wickets caused a chain like reaction causing the rest of the batting order to collapse. Kodikara soon bowled Jeeven and Harvind was welcomed to the crease. Bobby soon joined him and both batsmen had a small partnership but foreigner Dulanga soon ripped through the Penang batting line-up claiming 4 wickets. Penang was soon bundled out for 68 runs in 23 overs. The Penang Boys made no mentionable contributions with the bat. Final result, Penang lost by 169 runs.

By,

Varun N.

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