GFO CRICKET 2008 FINALS - AM Champs Win!!!!!

HERE WE GO folks..........This is what the Champs and the Firehawks must've been thinking when they made their entry to the grounds of the magnificent Thakur stadium in Kandivali (East). THE DEAD AS A DODO pitch, the lush green outfield, the intimidating grand stands which in due course..was to house a sell-out crowd of 50 ardent supporters from either side, the overwhelming sound system that kept the teams highly motivated to the tunes of the Chak De war cry AND last but not least..The star attraction in the stands, no my dear friends...its was not Katrina Kaif, but the gorgeous GFO Cricket Winners trophy being unveiled by the events organizers and for a minute the two teams just stopped in their tracks and gazed at this amazing prize. Yes folks, who was going to take this beautiful trophy home today. Was it going to be FINAPPS..a dedicated group of consistent performers who play the game tough and don't give you an inch. They had now made it to their 3rd consecutive GFO Cricket finals, but were in no mood to settle for the runners-up a third year running. OR...was it going to be the Champs from Asset Management who started off on shaky ground, but as the tournament progressed have gone from strength to strength and were peaking at the right time. Winning was not new to this inspired lot. Amit, Kunal, Iqbal, Brendan have all won the Championship before and with a host of newcomers playing their debut finals were all set for the big game.

A huge round of applause as the captains Amit Ghatnekar (AM Champs) and Vicky Gaikwad (Finapps) went out to toss with the umpires. And for the first time in the tournament Amit lost the toss and from a distance, signalled to his boys, that they would be padding up first. Both captains rallying their troops one final time before a spiritedly Finapps entered the field. Hemanshu and Brendan were the two openers all geared up. Remember, they won the semi's chasing 110 and did it with 9 wickets to spare, so they were brimming with confidence. As the first ball was bowled you could sense the nerves in the crowds. The Champs got off to a sedate start, playing themselves in. A few extras in the form of wides meant that the score was ticking without taking much risk. Then, in the fourth over as the opening duo were taking a quick single captain Vicky with a brilliant direct hit from behind the stumps got Brendan run out. Kunal an important asset to the AM Champs batting line up fell next ball caught by Ganesh at backward point, he didn't have to move an inch. After 5 overs it was looking like Finapps were in the drivers seat. In steps Yashwin another feather in the strong AM batting line up. Hemanshu and Yashwin both stroke players played their natural game and with lovely drives straight, and on both sides of the wicket put together a decent partnership. The Champs were soon out of the danger zone and with the Hemanshu-Yashwin partnership blossoming the match was level pegged at the 10 over mark drinks break. Hemanshu who scored two half centuries before the finals was now tearing the bowling apart. Quick bowling changes and different field settings, but soon nothing was going the Finapps way. Yashwin getting his act together with some lusty blows over the top. The Champs were now playing themselves into a position of strength. Yashwin fell with a beauty of a delivery from Uday in 13th over for a well made 46. With 7 wickets in hand, it was now a question of how much the Champs would settle for. With some big reputed hitters in their ranks, entered Piyush. He gave Hemanshu decent company but soon perished......The stage was set for Captain Amit to blast off, getting to the center with a runner. Wow...more caos, this was going to be fun. But Amit played some beautiful shots picking the gaps well. Finapps was now wilting under the heat and Hemanshu who opened the batting was also tiring out. Hemanshu then skying a high ball to long on and easily taken....started walking back to the pavilion. But a twist.....the umpire signalled a no-ball. Iqbal getting ready to enter the pitch happily chatting to Himanshu on hows the wicket while Amit and Brendan call Hemanshu back. Well...a reprieve for Hemanshu on 56. He then went on to further pulverize the bowlers scoring 89. The finals overs saw Finapps snapping up 3 quick wickets for nothing. But the Champs by then had put on 177 runs. Uday Tripathi took 3 wickets.

The supporters were definitely getting their money's worth out of this one. Aarti Gulati, Saraswati Nambirajan, Manoj Jain all in the crowds egging their AM Champs team along. Finapps also getting behind their team as they always do with Ritesh Chichani & Prashant Poojary taking over commentary from Sandeep Bhandari. A formidable total on the board for the Champs and the Firehawks needed to bat out of their skins to chase this one. In an earlier game they had cracked 190 batting first, so this was still not out of reach by any stretch of the imagination. A quick break and the Champs were soon out on the field to a warm applause knowing that an early couple of wickets would put them in the drivers seat. The dedicated opening pair of Anurag and Ranjeet then stepped out one final time. Fareez and Kunal opened the bowling for the Champs and kept a tight leash on the batsmen. Anurag was looking to swing at anything outside the off stump but not connecting as well as he would have liked. The fielding of the Champs took a nose dive at the start with catches going down left, right and center. The first 5 overs was all about poor fielding and aggressive intent from the batsmen. Fareez then got Ranjeet with a quick toe crunching yorker and this gave a huge sense of relief to the fielding side. Vicky a reputed no. 3 batsmen then stepped in to keep the socreboard ticking along. Amit the hatrick hero then picked Vicky bowling a beauty, and followed that up with the wicket of Anurag (who made 23 runs) and soon the semi-final hat-rick hero was in with another hat-rick chance but this time it was not to be. But the quick fall of wickets meant that the Firehawks were starring down the barrell at the 10 over drinks interval at 70 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. Leo and Kedar in the distance getting cartons of beers ready in the stands, Wow...this finals was really getting exciting now. As Ganesh and Aditya stepped out to bat, the Champs with one hand firmly on that trophy. But the thriller still had some twists in the bag. Ganesh and Aditya with a cool head just played each ball on its merit and stopped the flow of wickets. Ganesh soon got his eye in and played aggressive stokes and in no time, the Firehawks were 125/5, and with 5 overs to spare needed 50 runs. In this day and age of T20, that was an achievable target and the Firehawks just kept playing good cricket shots and were in with a chance. With 3 overs left, the Firehawks were 35 runs away and the Champs knew the it was not over yet. Piyush then came on to bowl, but Ganesh with a couple of hits got ten runs off the over. 2 overs to bowl and 25 runs to get. 2 boundaried once again in the over and Firehawks were within touching distance. 12 runs required off the final over and Piyush bowling his off spinners it was very difficult to hit. The Champs who weren't fielding well at all, in the last 3 overs suddenly stepped up to the plate and kept the good shots down to just singles. 2 balls and 8 runs win and Piyush bowls a dot ball. Ganesh hits the last ball to long-on but the game is all over by then, he scored 44 runs and a 90 runs parternship with Aditya (who made 35 runs). Though the game went down to the wire, the AM Champs rose to the occassion and emerged the true Champions. Firehawks lost the 3rd final(GFO cricket) in a row. Both teams gave it their all, but in the end the Firehawks played with too much fire and got smoked out by the AM Champs...!!!

Prize distribution and congratulations from Aarti to both the teams and comments from the two captains, team photographs and the beers started flowing. The Best Batsman award went to Himanshu Gala for his 3 half centuries including a match winning knock of 89 in the grand finale. Uday Tripathi bagging the best bowler award picking up 10 wkts in the tournament. Well.....Some smiles, some dejected faces but in the end, Cricket won and all thanks to the GFO Cricket organizers for making this event a very memorable one