Thunderbolts Cricket Club

It's been a while since we last posted anything reconizing special performances. In the mean time, there has been some real solid performances during the winter 2021 season. That includes a 68 ball 108 by Sheraz Babar, 32 ball 93 plus 4/16 from 5 overs by Anshul Singh, 62 ball 103 Not Out by Krithik UdayaShankar, etc. Yesterday we witnessed some very special batting and bowling performances.

Batting first, San Jose Everyoung scored 235/2 aided by a 77 ball 130 from Pardeep Singh. Score would have been much larger if not for a controlled bowling spell of 5 overs for 27 runs by Anshul Singh. But chasing that score down meant someone from Thunderbolts must step up with a big inning and Ramandeep Singh decided to take charge today by playing a superb inning of 123 runs from 57 balls. He got excellent support from Rohith Ramkumar, Prince Faisal Sahebzada, Anshul Singh & Natwar Agrawal but Thunderbolts still needed someone to take the team past the finish line and it was Srikanth Lakkaraju who made it happen scoring 26 runs from 16 balls . Thunderbolts won by 5 wickets.

https://cricclubs.com/baca/viewScorecard.do?matchId=2220&clubId=1755

2021-12-11: Thunderbolts family along with Indus Cricket Club maintained minutes of silence before the NCCA 2021 winter league match paying homage to the departed souls of CDS of the Indian Armed Forces Gen. Bipin Rawat, his wife, and remaining 11 soldiers of the soil. May their souls rest in peace. 🙏

After a gap of one year due to COVID, it was time for the 22nd edition of July 4th Cricket Festival by Bay Area Cricket Alliance with 12 strong teams competing for the top spot. Having won the championship in 2018 & 2019, Thunderbolts were looking forward to retaining the championship thereby making it a hat trick.

Game 1 (vs Berkeley): After winning their first match against SBS, Berkeley were a confident bunch. They got off to a solid start by grabbing both opening batsmen of Thunderbolts with only 10 runs on the board. But then came the partnership of Rizwan and Venkatesh. Both have contributed immensely over the past few years towards Thunderbolts success in the league matches as well as the tournaments. Rizwan with a masterful inning of 43 from 38 balls and Venkatesh Sirangu with 37 from 21 balls got the innings back on track with a partnership of 91 runs from 9 overs. Saurabh went in next to play a powerful inning of 74 not out from 39 balls that boosted the team score to 211 after 20 overs. Berkeley team was loaded with some attacking batsmen, but Bilal Sadaqat bowled superbly with the new ball getting rid of 3 top order batsmen who were the highest scorers for Berkeley in their first match against SBS. That broke the backbone of Berkeley, and they never managed to recover. Rizwan took 3 wickets and Mohit 2 wickets to wrap up Berkley's inning at 175. With 43 runs to his name and 3 wickets for 30 runs, Rizwan was adjudged player of the match!

Game 2 (vs SBS): This match was shifted to day 2 of the tournament due to bad light on day 1. Bilal and Krithik got Thunderbolts to a solid start with 37 runs from 4 overs when Bilal had to retire hurt. No individual batsman went on to get a big score for Thunderbolts but a combined effort from Mohit (37 from 23), Krithik UdayaShankar (32 from 19), Waqas Zarif (27 from 10), Bilal (23 from 14) and Prince Faisal Sahebzada (15 runs from 12) saw the team score 187 from 20 overs. SBS needed to win the match in 12 or 13 overs to make it to the QF but superb bowling by Adnan (5 wickets for 17) ended SBS inning for 112 and he was adjudged player of the match for this effort.

Quarter-Final (vs Demons): Demons are a very talented team and fight till the end. Thunderbolts knew this would be a tough one. Batting first, Thunderbolts got off to a start they hoped for. Captain Sheraz (37 runs from 22) with Krithik (62 runs from 44) put on an opening partnership of 90 runs in 10.5 overs. Mohit (29 from 14), Faisal (26 from 12) and Raghavendar Varadharaj (14 runs from 9) helped Thunderbolts post a defendable total of 191 which seemed 10-15 runs short taking Demons batting strength into consideration. Game was evenly poised until the 16th over. 17th over saw Thunderbolts losing the grip on the match conceding 25 runs. But like they have done in the past, Thunderbolts fought back to win the match by 5 runs with Bhavesh, Adnan and Faisal bowling 18th to 20th over conceding only 17 runs.

Semi-Final (vs Fresno): Semi-Finals and Finals were scheduled to be played at Fremont Central Park where the pitch favors spin bowling. With a slow outfield and long boundaries, scoring is not easy. Most of the matches here end up being low scoring ones. Due to injury, Thunderbolts went in to the match with one spinner short in the playing 11. But Natwar struck in the first over of the match and Thunderbolts never looked back. Bhavesh M Jain led the show with 4 wickets for 10 runs with Sheraz grabbing 2 wickets for 21 runs. Fresno inning was wrapped up for a low total of 85 runs. Needing 85 to win, Thunderbolts were in a bit of a bother losing 3 wickets for 32 runs but Raghavendar (26 runs from 28), Waqas (21 from 14), and Captain Sheraz (15 runs from 21) took the team to a win. Bhavesh was declared player of the match.

Final (vs Tracy): Tracy has always been a very strong team to play against. With an international player in the playing 11, they were even stronger. They had scored 190 in the semi-final which is a massive score for this ground. They were off to a very good start scoring 22 from 3 overs. But Faisal rose to the occasion striking the first blow for Thunderbolts which brought Ali Raza to the crease. Both Hemi and Ali continued to attack the bowling scoring at a brisk rate. Yet again, Bhavesh provided the crucial breakthrough by getting rid of Ali. Hemi and Dilpreet continued the attack but a brilliant run out by Adnan sent Hemi back. Threat was still looming with international player Ravinderpal at the crease but a fantastic catch by Rizwan from Sheraz's bowling saw the back of Ravinderpal. Thunderbolts continued taking wickets at regular intervals without giving away too many runs. Adnan was yet again peak of the bowlers conceding only 12 runs from 4 overs. Needing 135 to win, Thunderbolts was reduced to 45 runs for 4 wickets, but Rizwan rose to the occasion in yet another big match for Thunderbolts batting and running between the wickets brilliantly. He had excellent support from Mohit who is also known as someone who raises his game a notch higher when the chips are down. A dominating partnership of 56 runs from 5 overs got Thunderbolts back on track. But a game is not over until the last run has been scored. Target was still tough with 33 needed from 24 balls when Mohit got out. Playing his first tournament for Thunderbolts, Faisal let his bat do the talking and announced why he has been picked ahead of others to be part of Thunderbolts in this tournament. He hit a massive six straight down the ground to bring home the championship making it 3 in a row for Team Thunderbolts. He remained not out on 18 from 8 balls while Rizwan playing yet another match winning knock remained not out on 53 runs from 43 balls. Rightly, Rizwan got the player of the match award.

A team is only as good as the leaders. A leader must have the ability to understand the strengths of every team member, keep them united and encourage them to perform at their best. A leader must also set right example through individual performances. Lot of credit goes to the Captain Sheraz Babar and Vice-Captain Mohit Gowda for living up to the expectations and making all this happen.

Early part of 2021 summer season

Most up to date as of today

Awesome batting display that was against a good team!

Match Type : 2018 Summer League (45 Overs)
League : Bay Area Cricket Alliance
Teams : Thunderbolts Niners vs EYCA
Date : Sun, Jul 15, 2018
Venue: George Joseph High School (San Jose)

Having won all 3 games of the season to date, it was time for 4th game of the season for Thunderbolts Niners. After winning the toss, Thunderbolts Niners decided to bat first.

Bilal Sadaqat and Anshul Singh opened the batting for Thunderbolts. After seeing first three balls off, Bilal got the inning going with a big six. Dev from EYCA came on to bowl the second over and immediately struck with a delivery that came in sharply getting Anshul bowled. Nikunj Nikunj was the next batsman in. The young opening bowlers for EYCA continued to bowl with discipline keeping both the batsmen quiet. At the end of 12 overs, score was 61 for the loss of 1 wicket. Bilal was the next wicket to fall in the 12th over by when he had gone on to score 50 from 48 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes. Govind Kohli was the next batsman in but it was not his day with the bat as he got out after scoring 9 runs from 10 balls. That brought captain Sheraz Babar to the crease. Nikunj was the next batsman to get out after scoring 52 from 58 balls. Maththaiya Durai (Matty) was the next batsman in. Both batsmen played freely to take the score to 272 after 35 overs. Matty got run out in the 36th over after scoring 42 from 31 balls. That brought Waqas Zarif (Khanzada VK) to the crease and he announced his intentions by nonchalantly dispatching the first ball he faced for four. Shots continued to flow from his bat and before anyone could realize he had reached 50 from 11 balls which is a record in this format. In the mean time, Sheraz had gone on to complete his century from 74 balls before getting out. But on this day, that was not going to slow down Waqas as he continued his brutal onslaught on EYCA bowlers. He created another record by scoring 100 runs from 25 balls. By the time Thunderbolts Niners' inning ended, Waqas had played an inning of a lifetime remaining not out on 130 from 34 balls. In the process, Thunderbolts Niners scored 445 for 7 from 45 overs. That is the highest score ever in an inning of a BACA summer league match.

Needing an incredible 446 runs to win, Harish Choudhary and Darsh Trivedi opened the batting for EYCA. Both of them fought well scoring 30 from 7 overs. Darsh was first to get out which brought coach Gary Graham to the crease. He played some beautiful shots taking the score to 60 from 11 overs. Once he got out, wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals. But EYCA managed to play till the 45th over and were eventually all out for 209 in 44.5 overs. For Thunderbolts Niners, Govind Kohli lead the way in bowling by grabbing 3 wickets for 26 runs from 8 overs while Bilal Sadaqat took 2 wickets for 26 runs from 3 overs. Other bowlers who chipped in with a wicket each were Nikhil Verma, Rizwan Mirza and Waqas Zarif.

Player of the Match: Waqas Zarif (130 Not Out from 34 balls)

Scorecard: http://www.bayareacricket.org/baca/viewScorecard.do?matchId=783&clubId=1755

REWARDS FOR WINTER 2019 PERFORMANCES

As a tradition, we have been recognizing top performers for our club with trophies. Last summer we rewarded round trip air ticket to Las Vegas along with reduced club membership for following summer season to any of our club member who won the league MVP. Anshul Singh was the outright winner of this reward.

For 2019 winter season, we are playing in Bay Area Cricket Alliance (BACA) as well as Northern California Cricket Association (NCCA) (NCCA) leagues. We will be rewarding performers from our club who win MVP in either of the leagues. Apart from that, we will combine points (CricClub) earned by players in both the leagues and reward a club level MVP for the season.

What are the rewards that performers can expect?

1. Top notch cricket equipment from Procricshop
2. Various electronics (Bluetooth earbuds, Powerbanks, Smartwatch, etc.) and sports aid like exercise bands, knee supports, etc. sponsored by Raj Padhi

Let the winter fun begin!

Recognizing individual outstanding performances of our players. Note: Pictures may not match date of performance

2019-07-07: Defended the BACA July 4th Tournament championship in style with excellent support from entire Thunderbolts family.