The 2008 Finals

After many long weeks full of blood, sweat, toil, and competitive cricket we are at last at the culmination of the 2008 season. Many teams played well, some did better than expected, others tripped up near the end, some did not perform to expectations. But in the end, there can be only 2 teams from each Division that play in the finals. This year the two teams to outlast all others in the 30/30 Division are DeePark XI and MWCA, in Division 2 are AAA and IIT, and in Division 1 are United and Phoenix. Whatever the outcome of the games this Saturday, all these teams can be rest assured that they have had an outstanding season and have done well to reach their respective finals.

The 30/30 Division final should be an interesting match up between an explosive and experienced DeePark side and a young and talented MWCA side. DeePark rode on the back Bhavesh Amin's 4 wickets, Chirag Patel's 3 wickets, and Nirav Patel's 71 to storm through to the finals. MWCA relied upon Nasir Mahmood and Moin Babar's 3 wickets and an aggressive knock from Fahad Babar who put up 54 to out hustle their opponents. Will the exuberance of youth outlast the wisdom of experience in this final?

The Division 2 final looks to be an extremely good game between two evenly poised teams. IIT stormed into the finals on the back of Lakshmikumar Rajaramachandran's century and 3 wicket haul. AAA outplayed the regular season Division winners Eagles (who have already secured their Div 1 spot) due to good knocks from Sabbir Patel (66) and Asif Patel (42). Bilal Patel and Ibrahim Ismail picked up 3 wickets apiece in the big win. AAA recently got promoted to Division 1 a couple of years ago and then were relegated back to Division 2 last year. They clearly are one of the best teams in Division 2 and are looking to reclaim their berth in Division 1. IIT has been a perennial contender in Division 2 having lost out in the finals last year. They are a well-balanced team with strong batting and bowling line-ups. Both teams are very good in the field and this is going to be an evenly matched contest. Can a determined IIT side get past an evenly balanced AAA side, or will AAA make it back to Division 1?

The Division 1 final has shaped up to be a contest between a team that most people considered favourites - United - and a team that few considered even a dark horse - Phoenix. On one hand United is a team that has looked very strong all year. They made it to the finals by beating favourites Pak Gym due to a dogged 78 by Kiran Kumar and superb bowling by one of the leagues best players Mehul Shani (5 wickets). United boasts the leagues best batsman for 2008 - Faisal Baig, the leagues top bowler Mehul Shani who is a very good batsman in his own right, the wiles of Amit Joshi, the talent of Kiran Kumar, the experience of Adnan Baig, the explosiveness of Guarav Dhar, not to mention the less heralded by equally effective Naveed Mohammed, Dhiraj Pathkar, Mateen Syed, Gopinath Aravindakshan, and Sudhir Kumar. Phoenix on the other hand started the season on a dream run, then tripped up in the middle, and then came back strong towards the end and in the playoffs. Prasanna Sundaragopalan ripped through the Peoria line up with 4 wickets and then the chase was completed due to the contributions of Aditya Burman (34), Arvind Sundaragopalan (44), Diwakar Cherukumilli (29), and Mitul Patel (25). Few gave Phoenix a chance at the playoffs, and less gave them a chance at going deep - let alone making the finals. But here they are facing a United team that are clear favourites and determined to avenge their past final's losses and raise the championship for the first time. Either way, there will be a new winner in Division 1 this year. Will the dream run of the upstart Phoenix team continue, or will United finally end their Championship jinx in 2008?

This Saturday is the culmination, the answer, the reason that we play cricket in the Midwest Cricket Conference - the Division finals. Good luck to all teams!!