Getting mauled

Before the start of the match we were joking around as to how this game can be compared with an Australia vs Bangladesh encounter. Somewhere in our minds we also liked that comparison since the Bongs had managed to stage an upset once and I'd be lying if I said we didn't nurture that ambition of hoping to emulate their feat. What happened on the ground in our match against the Rodeos - the defending champions - though was a complete whitewash which certainly has brought this feeling of utter hopelessness. We were outplayed in every department of the game. We had a few losses in the earlier games also but we always had some positives out of every match. Especially our bowlers, who bowled well whatever the quality of opposition. But today our two top bowlers who had bowled consistently throughout the tournament and were in the top rankings amongst bowlers in the league were thrashed for 42 and 43 runs in their quota of 5 overs and went wicketless. Watching their balls sail above our heads and land well past the boundary was a terribly discouraging sight for the outfielders. One of the opposition batsman sprinkled salt on our wounds by hitting a half century - only the second of the league. To hit a 50 with the limited amount of strike available in a 20-20 is certainly commendable.

Our batting brought back old memories of batsmen parading to the pitch and returning to the pavilion as if in a hurry. While our fielding cant go any lower with as mush as 6 easy catches dropped. After giving us a few lessons in cricket in the match it was good to also get a few words of symapthy from the opposition team. Their captain, after the game told us that it was their fourth year in the league and they were the champions last season but they were no different than us in their first year.

So with our hopes of doing a David to the Rodeos Goliath finally dashed we look forward to our upcoming games. The teams we are going to play henceforth aren't that stronger and so the future isn't that bleak. We also have no match for a long time now - our next game is almost a month and half away in Jan. But with the budget allocation season for next year coming up for our projects, we also are not sure how many of us will be there till then ;-). We plan to regroup as a team and replan our strategies. Try to get rid of our technical deficiencies and upgrade our game to a level where we could compete with the best teams. And I hope I don't have to write posts about hopelessness again.

Win at last!!!!

The sweeeeeeet taste of success.......finally. Yea thats true we won our first game of the league, albeit against the minnows of the tournament - Tempe Ganpats. But then given our show in the league before this match I felt we also were one of the weaker sides and that made this - a clash between the underdogs, as interesting as any encounter between any of the top teams. While we were languishing at the second last position in the table the Ganpats were even worser - rock bottom.

The win also was more sweeter since it came unexpectedly. We were not supposed to play the Ganpats until first week of December and today they were scheduled to play Phenoms instead. But then Phenoms showed their unavailability and we were offered to prepone our match against Ganpats. Thats how we replaced the Phenoms as Ganpats opponents today and could taste our first win. We were already a bit down with the back-to-back defeats and our next match was scheduled against the Rodeos the defending champs and so a third loss on a trot was on the cards. But thanks to the turn of events we ended up opening our account in the points table. The beating against the Rodeos awaiting us next weekend is not gonna feel that bitter now :-).

But then everything isn't too gloomy for the Bulls. We haven't been clicking as a team but some of our individual performances, especially the bowlers, have been awesome. The Waqar-Wasim rivalry is certainly helping the team :-). Its good to see some of our guys move higher amongst the top 5 in the rankings list of batsmen and bowlers in the league(You will have to scroll down to the Tennis Ball Division if you happen to take the effort of clicking those links -also since the list is subject to change its possible you may see our guys move lower in that list as days go). And this considering our stats for one of the matches hasn't even been counted due to uploading issues.

Finally we also got a chance to uncork the Champagne bottle that has been waiting to spill from the past two matches.

Aey Ganpat Chal Daroo Laa..........

That empty feeling.........

Thats how I'd sum up our emotions after todays match - our second match of the league also our second consecutive defeat. As far as our league campaign is concerned, well, still 10 more matches to go and 5 to win for a quarterfinal berth.

When the blog was started I had decided to post after every game to keep our friends in India and elsewhere updated. But then when we lost our opening game I thought to give it a skip for the first match because that wouldn't have been a fitting start to our so called - sojourn to victory.

After losing the second match though and with the third match scheduled with Rodeos the defending champs, the first post wud have had to wait for a month more. To avoid replying to those innumerous queries about "Whats up with Chandler Bulls" in orkut scraps or mails I have decided to give it a go however nauseating it is to relive those painful memories of whats happening with Chandler Bulls.

So while the first match we lost by a whisker the second was abject surrender. I thought we were a good team with good bowlers and good batsmen. Bowlers who could bowl 5 or 6 great balls an over except a bad ball or two here and there. Batsmen who could play shots except a bad one here and there. But then we realized in the end its this ball or two that sometimes is the difference between the two teams. Their bowlers unlike ours hardly give this ball or two and their batsmen unlike ours hardly fail to capitalise on this ball or two.

On a lighter front, I also somehow feel our fortunes seem linked with that of the Indian team. The day we lost our first match by 2 runs, the Indian team lost their first match by 4 runs. In our second match our batting simply collapsed reminiscing of India's 27/5 exactly on the same day.We ended up scoring the lowest score by any team in the league till now.

But while alls lost for the Indian team, theres still hope left for us. No cause is lost until there is but one fool left to fight for it. And I know I am not the only fool in this team.

Chandler Bulls Match schedule & Points Table

Guys, Its really nice to see support pouring in from every corner. For some of our frineds who arent with us and follow our team and who've been asking us "What next?", heres the schedule of Chandler Bulls matches and where we stand in the league.

Date	Home Team	Away Team	Result Summary	Score Card
24 Oct	All Stars	Chandler Bulls	Lost by 2 runs. ALLST:105/9 (20) CBUL:103/10(20)	Score Card
8 Nov	Chandler Bulls	Phenoms	Lost by 65 runs. PHE:120/8(20) CBUL:55/10(14.1)	Score Card
15 Nov	Tempe Ganpats	Chandler Bulls	Won by 6 wickets. TEM:93/9(20) CBUL:94/4(17.3)	Score Card
21 Nov	Rodeos	Chandler Bulls	Lost by 77 runs. ROD:145/4(20) CBUL:68/10(17)	Score Card
9 Jan	Stragglers	Chandler Bulls	Lost by 5 wickets. CBUL:59/10(14) STR:65/5(12.5)	Score Card
30 Jan	Terminators	Chandler Bulls	Won by 5 wickets. TER:63/10(17.4) CBUL:64/5(19.2)	Score Card
6 Feb	Chandler Bulls	Silverlining	Lost by 27 runs. SIL:83/10(18.4) CBUL:56/10(17.3)	Score Card
6 Mar	Warriors	Chandler Bulls	Lost by 111 runs. WAR:163/7(20) CBUL:52/10(11.5)	Score Card
14 Mar	Chandler Bulls	Crusaders	Won by 2 runs. CBUL:85/8(20) CRUS:83/9(20)	Score Card
20 Mar	Chandler Bulls	Laveen	Lost by 4 wickets. CBUL:91/7(20) LAV:93/6(15.2)	Score Card
27 Mar	Apollo	Chandler Bulls	Lost by 1 wicket. CBUL:89/10(19.4) APL:90/9(18)	Score Card
3 Apr	Chandler Bulls	Suns	Won by 42 runs. CBUL:147/6(20) SUN:105/10(19.1)	Score Card

Final Points Table
The top 8 teams move to the knockout stage(qualify for the quarterfinals).

Rank	Team Name	Played	Won	Lost	Tied	Penalty	Points	Net Run Rate
1	Rodeos	12	11	1	0	0	110	1.32
2	Apollo	12	8	4	0	0	80	0.56
3	Laveen	12	7	4	1	0	75	0.32
4	Terminators	12	8	4	0	6	74	0.89
5	Silverlining	12	7	5	0	0	70	-0.07
6	Phenoms	12	6	5	1	1	64	0.39
7	Warriors	12	6	6	0	0	60	0.44
8	Crusaders	12	5	7	0	0	50	-0.34
9	All Stars	12	5	7	0	0	50	-0.42
10	Stragglers	12	4	8	0	0	40	-0.22
11	Tempe Ganpats	12	4	8	0	0	40	-0.36
12	Chandler Bulls	12	4	8	0	0	40	-1.28
13	Suns	12	2	10	0	5	15	-1.09