Division Two Playoffs - Saturday

Its time to clear the mind of all the controversies of last
weekend, and look forward to one of the best weekends of the
year - quarter-final weekend in the MCC. So far, with
calculators still working overtime in Division One, it is
only the Division Two matchups that are set.

Peoria vs. Jaguars: Saturday, WP2

The #8 seeded Jaguars, coming off a game in which they avenged
a one-sided early-season loss to Madison, take on top-ranked
and presumptive title-favourite Peoria this Saturday.

These are, to coin a phrase, Not Your Daddy's Jaguars (yes,
I know, wrong car-reference :-) But this is a team radically
altered from the glory days of Jatin, Arvind, RP, Amit et al,
who made the Jaguar's a perennial playoff team a few years
ago. There has been an extreme influsion of youth - there are
near half-a-dozen current IIT students on the roster -
bringing with them exuberance, youthful athleticism, and a
touch of playoff inexperience (which made the win over a
very good Madison side all the more creditable). And these
are heavily contributing youngsters led by the movie-theatre-
trinity of Satyam, Shubam and Shameer-um (and Shabri, whose
name doesnt quite fit the old-timey Bollywood movie, but who
is a heavily contributing bowler despite it)!

The Jaguars are a team whose strength is clearly its batting -
and what a strength it is! The only team in Division Two to
top 3000 runs this year, the batting is led by the youthful
rising star Satyam Kaneria (who failed to make a single
century, yet scored nearly 500 runs in double-quick time this
year) and one-drop Ajay Radhakrishnan. But the batting is
very strong and deep and very much a team effort, with no
less than 9 players having made a fifty for the Jaguars
this season. Amongst the nine is paceman Vishal Kundra, a
destructive batsman who also leads the attack paired with his
old pace partner Raish, and the three new-boys Satyam, Shabri
and Shameer, all five with double-digit wickets this season.

Waiting for the Jaguars is Peoria - tanned, rested and ready.
Madhu's team has lost just once this season, and yet shows up
nowhere on the statistical charts! How is this, you may ask?
Because they are a team, and built as such, with different
people given exposure at different times with the playoffs in
mind. (It also doesnt help individual stats if only one batsman
has batted even 9 times this season, with the rest all having
even fewer knocks!) Peoria may have only 2 batsmen who have
crossed 200-runs this season (Madhu himself and Maninder Bola, who averaged 64 in only 7 innings - two of the best allrounders
in the league), but literally everyone can bat in this team
(as was demonstrated by a chanceless fifty by the #10 Vishal
that won Peoria the game against IIT this season, in what was
clearly the game of the year). The true strength of Peoria,
however, strong as their batting is, might well lie in their
bowling - as demonstrated by no less than 7 bowlers in
double-figures in wickets, and a staggering six of them with
economy-rates under 4 runs an over! Kiran, Maninder, Madhu and
Kalyan have all taken a 4-fer this season, and form possibly
the strongest bowling lineup in the division.

Contest to watch: Peoria's league-leading bowling attack
against the Jaguars league-leading batting lineup.

QC vs. Giants: Saturday, WP3

The other Saturday game sees a replay of one of the best games
of the year, the tie played out at Mossville between #2 seed QC
Kings and #7 seed Giants a few weeks ago.
http://www.midwestcricket.org/asp/Score88.asp?id=2745
This is also the replay of a playoff game a year ago, when the
Giants relatively easily upset the higher-ranked QC Kings who
were then in their first season in our league.

The Giants have long been known as a very good bowling side
backed up by perhaps the best gloveman in the division in
Shashi, and that holds true this year as well with 4 bowlers
in double-digit wickets, 2 of them with excellent economy
rates in the mid-3s (Asim and Moatsim). The clear leader
of the attack, however, has been Atif who has had a monster
season - with 33 wickets at an average of 11, he is the highest
wickettaker in the league. The batting has sometimes been a
worry in the past, but is much-strengthened this year with
the addition of the former-Phoenix Omer - who has hit 2
centuries and 300 runs in only 6 games! Vajid too has a century
this year, and over 400 runs to his name, while Yasin remains
one of the best allrounders in the division (with 276 runs and
12 wickets) - his name on the scorecards may have change, but
his performance remains as consistently outstanding as ever.

The Giants came within 10 runs of making Division One last
season, after a terrific run thru the playoffs. With a thumping
win to start this season's playoffs last week, they are a team
brimming with the confidence that they can repeat that run,
and take it a step further this time around - a confidence that
makes them one of the most dangerous teams in this tournament.

Waiting for the Giants are the QC Kings - a team many from
Chicago dont know as well as we should. Their quality is
obvious from the fact that they have lost just once all
season long, and won many contests in dominating fashion. The
QC Kings are a deep and balanced outfit - their batting may
be led by the highly prolific strokeplayer Hari Kiran (who has
scored nearly 400 runs in only 10 matches), but it is a side
with no less than 6 fifty-makers, and 9 who have scored more
than a hundred runs this season, thus one possessing no tail
whatsoever. The bowling too is very well balanced,with 3
bowlers (Satish, Nihar and Pankaj) taking 20 or more wickets
each at impressive averages, and Rahim claiming 17 in only
9 games. In addition this year, QC Kings may have what they
lacked a year ago - a player who knows as much about
Washtington Park conditions as anyone in the league, in the
form of our old friend Dimpy (who, as an aside, also adds
tremendous value to the team with both bat and ball, as
everyone in our league is well aware).

Contest to watch: Hari Kiran against the Giants bowling.
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