One run, the first over. Fifteen on the board after three. Forty-one for naught after seven.

The Cavaliers batting started off slow but when it took off, did it ever. With the RR never dipping below 4.5 after the fifth over, it was a steady diet of runs throughout their innings. This aggressive type of batting paid off with the first wicket to fall in the twenty-fifth over. But it wasn’t just the first to fall as Iftekhar Nayem Ahmed Adib bowled for a brace as he took the opening batsmen’s wickets in just two deliveries.

Sunit Guldas (48 [78b 6 Fours, 0 Sixers] SR 61.54) and Syed Irfan Shakeel (62 [74b 6 Fours, 0 Sixers] SR 83.78) joined up for an impressive partnership of 134 runs before that ended in a ball caught in the field followed by an LBW.

Whatever break the Arizona Tigers hoped they were going to receive from the outgoing duo was nonexistent as the rest of the Cavaliers took the bats and kept the steady runs coming. Although six more wickets would fall they still managed to put on another 83 runs on the board, ending their innings on a very good 217 for 8.

Trouble started quickly for the Tigers as they lost their first wicket in just the second over, with Tanin Chowdhury being bowled for a duck by a Siddhartha Singh delivery. Fortunately for the Tigers, they gathered their wits about them and settled in, not dropping any more wicket though ten.

Although they put up a decent 32 runs in the first ten overs, that was still 20 shy of what the Cavaliers were able to do, and that, with all their wickets in hand.

In one of the more impressive spans of the match came when Sunny Desai and Shrirang Adgaonkar took turns taking a wicket per over in four straight overs.

All was not lost for the Tigers, however, as they made a valiant effort in the final two overs, hitting 17 runs in the 39th and 16 in the 40th. But that was too little too late as the Cavaliers took all the points with a 17 run victory.

For being the only man to hit his half-century, Syed Irfan Shakeel is Cricket Arizona’s Man of the Match.

All images courtesy of Phrake Photography.

Stats provided by cricclubs.com

Full match info can be found here.