TAD LATE

CHETAN SURYAVANSHI, WHOSE VINTAGE INNINGS OF 82 FROM 36 BALLS THAT SNAPPED DEVGIRI EMPERORS' FIVE-MATCH LOSING STREAK, ADMITS THAT HIS BLITZKRIEG SHOULD HAVE COME MUCH EARLIER IN THE TOURNAMENT

Suhrid Barua, Pune Mirror, May 10, 2009
Devgiri Emperors have copped a lot of flak for the way they have performed in the Maharashtra Premier League. Five successive defeats behind them, the Emperors were fast acquiring the tage of being the ‘whipping boys’ of the tournament. But on Saturday at PYC, when all pointed to a sixth straight loss when their opponents Sinhagad Supremos posted the highest score of the tourney — 188 for 7 — Devgiri Emperors rose like a proverbial phoenix from the ashes as they rode on the fireworks of skipper Chetan Suryavanshi to dished out a brilliant run chase and in the process pull off their first win of the MPL.
Suryavanshi, who struggled to fire in the five matches, tore the Supremos bowling attack to shreds, clubbing a magnificent 82 off just 36 balls, packed with eight fours and six sixes to propel Emperors to a six-wicket win. Clearly, the innings came as a relief for the Emperors skipper considering all the criticism the Suryavanshi and his team have to put up with their winless ways. “If you are not going to deliver, criticism will be there, so we endured the same,” said Suryavanshi.
The 24-year-old right-hander feels his knock should have comer earlier in the tournament. “I wish this knock came in our first or second game but I can’t do anything about it. Our team management is happy with the way we played but we all feel it came late,” he admits.
So what really went wary in the first five games? “I think we took time to jell as a unit as most of us never played together or against each other. If you look at the other teams, you would find that Royals have a lot of guys who played for Cadence, then you have the Supremos who have a lot of guys from Raigad turning out for them and then you have the Panthers who have quite a few guys playing for Ambitious. It’s not an excuse for our poor show but we were at a disadvantage and took our time to play as a team,” he explained.
Suryavanshi’s blitzkrieg completely overshadowed the sizzling 87 scored by Supremos’ Amit Patil. “Amit played brilliantly first up but we played a spoiler today,” he grins.