Unseasonal rains helped knock out the defending champions, Telefunken Cricket Club, and last year’s losing finalists, NK Khanna Club, out of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) Hot Weather Cricket after both of them lost their pre-quarterfinal matches by the spin of coin.
In the event of a match not being completed due to rain, rules suggest that spin of a coin decides the winner.
While Telefunken, who were playing at Modern School grounds, lost to unfancied but giant-killer Delhi Colts, NK Khanna Club crashed to Golden Hawks at St Stephen’s grounds.
“A bit disappointing that we had to go out this way. We wanted to play the game but the opposition team delayed the start of the game since they thought the outfield was wet and unfit for play. Eventually, the match was reduced to 15-overs-a-side. We made 164 in 15 overs before rains came,” said Madan Sharma, coach of the team.
“It is a pity that there is no rest day.”
Veteran Yashpal Singh scored 52 while Deepak Khatri made 78 for Telefunken. The other side couldn’t bat.
NK Khanna, on the other hand, also looked unlucky as they had a slightly upper hand in the game, having dislodged three of Golden Hawks’ wickets for 83 in the seventh over. They had scored 210 in the allotted 15 overs. Hawks needed 123 in eight overs before rain descended.
The DDCA Hot Weather games are of 40 overs (for each side) and a minimum of 15 overs need to be played by both teams to constitute a full game.
Despite being on the losing side, NK Khanna’s former India under-19 World Cup winning captain Yash Dhull returned to form.
The right-handed batsman, who is coming off a string of poor scores in Delhi’s top tournaments and Uttarakhand Gold Cup in Dehradun, hammered 98 runs off 42 balls with seven sixes and eight fours.
The batsman repeatedly stepped out and hit the bowlers out of the ground. Yugal Saini chipped in with 59 off 26 balls, adding 116 with Dhull.
“This (failure and success) is not in my hand. I always try to stay fresh and don’t think much of failures as this is part and parcel of the game. Today, the overs were reduced and my plan was to go out and enjoy, and play my shots,” said Dhull after the innings.
Many of his boundaries were straight down the ground.
In response, Golden Hawks lost last match’s centurion Ankit Kumar on the first ball but Vaibhav Sharma, who debuted in first-class for Delhi vs Mumbai last season, remained unbeaten on 45 off 19 with fours sixes.
In another game, reduced to 20 overs, Sonnet Club survived a scare from Subhania and won by six runs.
Hrithik Shokeen cruised to 139 off 70 balls to help Sonnet reach 219/3 in 20 overs.
In response, Kaushal Suman hit 98 off 62 balls and Aman Sehrawat scored 62 off 37 as Subhania ended at 213/4 in 20 overs.
Asked about the absence of a reserve day and whether spin of a coin is the right way to get the results, DDCA league vice-chairman Ahmad Tameem told Patriot, “We had scheduled the tournament to end in June itself because we wanted to finish it before monsoon. But unfortunately, we are witnessing unseasonal rains. We can’t keep reserve days as there are 55 matches to be conducted. So, that leaves us with the option of spin of a coin only.”
