Pre quarters - Game changing bowlers, "batsmen" may take lightly- Jagan

Any team that’s not giving wickets to these guys is guaranteed a win {just my opinion, no counters please :D)
Brownstown
Yahya Akbari-Syed
Slow left arm bowler maintains a tight length
RBCC
Praveen Gujja
Reminds me of the great Mohinder Amarnath
Strikers
Ashok
Has a very deceptive slower one.
Bridges
Deepesh Naidu
Line and length is his forte, varies his pace with same action.
Gladiators
Sreedhar Ambu
Has very productive off-cutter/spinner.
Indus
Milind Kulkarni
Bowls slow, some of his low full tosses are very dangerous and tempting resulting in wickets.
Falcons
Piyush
Watch out for him
Stars
Yogesh Mittal
Bowls with lot of energy.
Greens
Ezhil Vivekanandan
Hit me please kind of bowler and its going to be miss hit 9 out of 10 times.
Juggernauts
Anand
Can bowl six different balls in an over.
Lions
Shashidhar Reddy
capable of running thru the line up

My Favorite Cricketers - DCL 2009 by Jagan

Nithya - Indus

Mr Gilly of DCL, makes umpire's life easy.


Yasir - Brownstown

The way he encourages youngsters in his team makes him special. He never changes his voice with the out come of the match, "Shabash .. shabash" echoes the ground no matter its "win" or "loss" . Great to have him in DCL. Sorry more than one liner.. L


Vikas Bijjam - RBCC

I have only one sentence for him, a "Must watch Talent in DCL". Great all rounder.

Visha Patel - Gladiators

Always smiling and take it easy type, wonderful left arm medium pacer.

Raghu Tadi – Mega Bytes

A silent killer and most under rated all rounder.

Aditya Bommaraju – Bridges

Yuvaraj Singh of DCL ? or Shewag of DCL ?

Rajesh Chintapalli- Cougars

A great all rounder with no nonsense

Bala – Juggernauts

DCL Thunder, I call him Jonty.

Poorna Chandra – Greens

Game changer anytime. Great hitter of the ball and I don't have to talk about his bowling.

Kondal – A2C2
Slow and steady wins the race, no no pardon me … takes the wickets.

Raghu Kurapati – DarkHorses

Excellent all rounder, MVP of 2004 finals.

Kothandaram Sethuram – Stars

Upcoming star of DCL

Parthiv Mehtha – Strikers

Owners pride neighbors envy, Onida of DCL.. lol

Ambuj Mathur – VisionPhoenix

One of the top wicket keepers in DCL

Srikanth – Falcons
Everybody talks about his bowling, watch out!! he is one of the best clean hitters of T-ball.

Ashraf Rajguru
Great teacher of the game.

Spiders

My man Jadhish, very energetic.

Ghutne Se...on Indus - By Nitya

Jagan asked me for an article for his blog, specifically for the Dil Se series. When Rehan conceived the Dil Se Series, it was intended to recognize all those great guys of our esteemed league who are underrated yet effective. Now, I have been part of Indus right from its very inception, and even then I had to literally scratch my head hard to think about someone in my own team, who qualifies for at least one of the superlatives that Rehan was looking for when he started the series. One need not be an astronaut to grasp the fact that none of us are underrated (we are an overrated bunch of losers) none of us are effective and lastly but more importantly, none of us can even pretend to look like a "great". I realized that it would take me ages to do a 'Dil Se' on any one individual from Indus, so I decided to do a 'Ghutne Se' on the whole team that is Indus.

First of all, a lil bit of history about the team. As the name suggests, Indus is a team of old laggards whose great ancestors formed the Indus valley civilization. For the historically challenged, it is a team comprising of individuals who migrated from the Indian subcontinent all the way to US...India, US...Ind-us, now u get it...Our first year in DCL was way back in the summer of 2001. Our performance was so horrific and so anti-Christ that before the next summer we had to confess our sins in the confession box, where the priest pleaded the Lord to forgive us, for we did not know what we did last summer.
The Lord smiled on us in the summer of 2002 or so it seemed before the 'Hand of God' moment of DCL brought us crashing from the heavenly plateaus of being a DCL finalist to the lowly craters of being just another semi-finalist. Only this time, the 'Hand of God' involved no hand when there should have been one. Vijay and Jagan were witness to this cataclysmic event. We were jumping with joy on our battered limbs when suddenly we heard 'KNAT A KNOW' in typical South-Indian-American accent. Now before all the South Indians jump on me, let me warn you , I am a south Indian myself...South Indian, South Indian...bai bai...wokay...
Even after 7 years, the 'KNAT A KNOW' ki goonj still encircles and occasionally bombards the labyrinth of my ear, just as the 'thappad ki goonj' did to a certain Dr. Dang about 23 years back. It didn't help that the Lord of the goonj embraced me the next time we met and apologized for his goonj. Since then, we have been overwhelmed in 3 Quarter Finals and a Pre-quarterfinal and we are still searching for our moment of truth, that elusive place in the DCL Finals.

Now, allow me to introduce you to the members of the team. I will focus primarily on those who are eligible for the playoffs, Bridges, you are not allowed to read any further...

Azeem - The captain of the ship. He is the gentlest person in the team, Harish from Gladiators (previously an Indie or Indusite) can vouch for that. He is an emotional person and wears his heart, liver and intestine on the sleeve in the playfield. He is very good in pressure cooker situation...probably all the valuable experience in the kitchen during his bachelorhood comes to the fore. The team realizes it and makes sure that he is always under pressure by the time he comes to bat. I have to go gentle on him, otherwise he can make sure that I always bat under pressure and I am not that good in the kitchen, infact I suck big time.

Milind - The very first captain of the team, the team owes its name to him. A good bowler and a very good batsman with very few runs and even fewer wickets to show. Someone from GLCC once mentioned that they were afraid of Milind the bowler. I guess, they used to overestimate his slower ones to be too slower for their own comfort. Last year when I marshaled the team, I ensured that his bowling career suffered the same way as my long time aspiration to become an all-rounder did under his astute captaincy. Then, Masters happened, followed closely by Harsha and the rest as they say is Geography.

Sagar - Very good fielder and the leading bat of the team since the last season. He would have done a pretty good job in the US immigration department, for anything at a couple of feet distance on every side of him has to deal with him first. A good batsman upfront, he is well adept at driving, especially when he is behind the wheels of his new Mazda 3. His best movements are usually in the form of warm-ups before the game when he, in tandem with Milind, does the 'punjirithanji konjikko munthiri muththoli chindhikko' dance routine from the jiya jale song in Dil Se. It has to be seen to be believed.

Nizar - An all-rounder in shape, size and attitude. Not sure, if it is the reputation enhanced by the word of mouth, but when he comes to bat, at least 4 players are exiled to the confines of the boundary. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he has an unusual aversion for anything which is round and covered by seam, as his every swing is intended to send the object crashing out of the park. The purpose behind the method less madness appears to be to put the fear of God or Death in the minds and hearts of the opponent, depending on their inclination. I am not sure about the opponents, but we make sure that we arrive in seamless pants.

Masroor - Once upon a time, one of the opening bowlers of the team along with an extremely capable batsmen possessing rare genre of footwork and handiwork, which cannot be traced anywhere in the coaching manual. Then one fine summer, he went to India, got bowled over and got married, returned with a paunch and since then his bowling lost some of its zip. If he gets going, he is quite capable of sending the ball to every nook and corner of the ground. Imagine setting a field to a batsman when the batman himself does not know where he is going to hit the ball.

Madhu - The one with the long arm, long legs and an even longer name. Uses his height to great effect to extract bounce with his sharp turning off spinners. The only problem is that we practically field with 9 players in the over prior to Madhu's over. Because of his long name, it takes Azeem about an over to let Madhu know that he will be bowling next.

Anand - Anand along with Nityanand makes Indus a "happy" place to be in. A steady batsman and a capable bowler. Sometimes he is so steady that the scoreboard appears to be steady. Likes to earn his wickets and dislikes taking more than 3 wickets.

Jestine - The workhorse of the team, a devastating bowler on his day. He thinks of himself to be a better batsman that what his captain thinks about his batting abilities. He always has his hopes high on being 'just in' to bat, but the captain sends all his hopes crashing by handing him the score sheet at the start of the innings. Sometimes, he tends to be very hard on himself as every seemingly mistake on his part is accompanied by an earth shattering 'shaaaaaaaaaaaaa'.

Pramod - Shetty bhai...An 'open' person to be around and an 'open' batsman, the one who never 'opens' the batting. Only the Indus members and some of the Cougars ( if they happened to pay any attention to our nonsensical ramblings ) know about his 'open'ness. Possessesing all the strokes in his repertoire and a lovely batsman to watch, but only in the nets, coz he hardly seems to score any runs in the matches.

Raj - carried the burden of the team in the whole of Pool Y and took the team to the playoffs almost single-handedly. Since this is his first year with the team, we made sure that he felt comfortable and at home by allowing him to do what he has been doing all these years with Thunderbolts - waging a lone battle. In case anyone is wondering about the mystery behind all the goody goody stuff written about him, well there is a reason behind it, there always is...I cant risk being on the wrong side of him as he is quite capable of forming his own team or to be precise, reviving the 'Thunderbolts'.

Akshat - The baby in a team full of oldies and hence always bullied around by everyone. He always seems to be on some mystery diet, though the effectiveness and the efficiency of the diet is transparent to everyone but himself. He is a bundle of energy with his child like enthusiasm, takes lots of wickets with his fastish shooting offspinners. He can bat pretty well and tends to show a great deal of footwork, the only thing being, his feet are sometimes at the right place at the wrong time and many other times, at the wrong place at the right time.

Akhtar - Has all the strokes in the book and plays them with a lazy elegance much to the chagrin of his own teammates. He is unlucky that the playing rules allow only 11 players to play the game. He is a mind reader in the sense that he reads the opposition very well and plays according to the situation which usually tends to benefit the opposition.

Nitya - Egomaniacal and narcissistic...thinks highly of himself as a batsman, but rarely ever delivers the goods...which led Azeem to take over the responsibility of gatorade and water on himself. Did a good job of pretending to be a good fielder before he broke his back doing absolutely nothing. There are rumours in the team that he might be jacking up his scores while entering them on the website. Even then, he rarely manages to reach double figures. He successfully managed to fool the DCL Committee, which awarded him the decent player of the league and handed him a bottle of champagne as a reward for his pretension. Now, who awards liqour to a decent person, well, come to think of it, gotta give credit to the committee, for only a decent person can manage to keep liquor as a memento...hmmmmmmmm....you wish....

Everything that starts, ends up ending somewhere. For now, this article seems to be heading towards its end. Lekin Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost....Before concluding, let me tell you that even though this writeup was intended to insult and humiliate anyone and everyone, please dont take it to heart, as this didnt come straight from the heart, it came straight ghutne se......

Dil Se - By Ashraf Rajguru about Ajay Merchant

Silent Assassin & Sharp Shooter – Ajay Merchant
The DCL Founder, i believe if not then definitely one of the Founders of DCL League - which was started in the 90’s, Ajay Merchant has been the creator of GLCC (Great Lakes Cricket Club) team and the pillar of the many a victories and championships acquired by GLCC and other teams (Chrysler) before that. I feel it’s appropriate to recognize this person who had a major share in starting DCL league which so many people enjoy today playing Cricket currently and who is the proud owner of highest number of DCL championships (to my knowledge). GLCC has the privilege of having the talent and resources of Ajay Merchant as an opener along with other Ajay (who is currently leading the Cougars charge), a fielder and a great thinker and mentor. Having the two Ajay’s open for us was similar to having M&M’s, every one of us wanting more and more of them.

When you talk about GLCC you generally think of the Vijay’s, Srini’s and the Samish’s, but Ajay M has gone unnoticed performing week after week throughout his career span with DCL of 14 years. I’m sure he is delighted to have Happy Memories of DCL Victories along with the showcase of the Trophies at Home, indirectly assisting him to also get permission from the Home Boss to play for one more year every year. He has been an integral part of the GLCC core for a long time and will continue to do so irrespective of his age.

For those of you guys who still can’t recollect Ajay M, just think of guy who has the flourishing cover drive in the DCL league, if that doesn’t compute then think of the guy with the Orange cap in GLCC team I know that’s easy. He mostly keeps a low profile being reserved but is a very humble and helpful person. In many of the victories – he has single handedly stood against the fearsome formidable attacks. 8 times out of 10, Ajay has provided a stable openings platform allowing other batsmen to play freely where he would anchor one end, Megs will testify to his approach in the 2007 Finals where he single handedly stood against their Attack which consisted of the great Jeet, Ranga, Gautam, Raghu & Binod. He has continued to be a useful bowler providing breakthroughs whenever needed, but has not been bowling enough these days. Ajay Merchant is a hardcore Team man ready to do whatever is needed for the team.

One striking feature of Ajay in the field is that he provides excellent fielding support (like a cheetah) in the field, putting some of the younger Team members to shame with his diving and catching. His Mantra “Catches wins Matches” has made GLCC strive better in the field.

There have been instances where I have been a witness to some DCL members in the past pointing out Ajay's slow play but what would they know to have so many trophies in their showcase. I feel bad for them. It’s been Ajay’s resolute Temperament that no one has yet been able to get under his skin on the field. There have been too many incidents where Ajay has made GLCC proud and will need hours to recount them. Ajay has tremendous experience and knows which shots to avoid when playing with t-ball. Even though he possesses every shot in the book, he plays only the ones that give him high returns with low risk. Most teams make a mistake of assuming that he doesn't have enough BIG shots to score quickly but who needs the Big strokes when you can milk the bowling like his sweetly timed drives on both sides of the wicket.

Ajay was also made honorary Chief Guest in the Night Tournament conducted by Hamid and Rehan Mallick in 2008.

Some of the memorable moments:

Ajay was the spearhead of GLCC batting in the years 2003 and 2004 when GLCC won back to back cups. In that time, he played through (25 overs or the whole innings) numerous times. He along with Ajay C are my best opening pair in DCL history.

Ajay's 17 was the top score for any GLCC batsman in 2004 finals. Taking on the best bowling attack in the league - Megabytes. He made sure that GLCC reached a respectable score after a top order collapse.

Then again in 2007, he stuck to the wicket for 17 overs to see GLCC through against some hostile Megabytes bowling.

GLCC vividly remembers some of his breathtaking catches that have triggered the opposition collapses. He is especially dangerous when he has missed out on his batting.


Ajay - We look forward to many more special innings from you and Special Thanks to Mrs. Ajay Merchant (Hetal) for allowing Ajay to continue be a part of us.