Four wickets and a chase: Blazehawks vs Go Leopards

March 28, 2026 · FT20 League · Waverly Cricket Field, Tampa

Some days everything connects. The ball does what you ask, the bat follows through, and the team around you fills in every gap you leave behind. March 28 against Go Leopards was that kind of day.

We bowled first after Leopards won the toss and chose to bat. Held them to 149/8 in 20 overs. Chased it down 150/4 in 16.3 overs. A six-wicket win that moved quicker than the scoreboard suggested.

When the ball lands in the right places first, the bat tends to find them too.

The match in one line

Go Leopards posted 149/8 from their full 20 overs. Blazehawks chased it in 16.3 overs with six wickets in hand.

With the ball

This is the half I’ll remember longer.

Four wickets from four overs — 4-33 at 8.25 economy. The numbers don’t scream dominance, but the wickets came when they mattered. Nagaraj P was the danger man. He was set, striking at 140, and had already put 70 on the board off 50 balls with five fours and two sixes. Getting him bowled was the one that changed the shape of the innings. Up to that point, Leopards had been building around him with real intent.

Before that, Siddharth Tirumallasrikanth edged one to Venky Bollineni in the field — 7 off 8, just starting to settle. After Nagaraj fell, the lower order had no anchor left. Harsha Sai Jagu was stumped by Srikar P for 3, and Lakshman Ganta followed next ball, caught by Vignan Reddy Manda for 2. Two wickets in the space of two balls at the death. That’s where the last 15-20 runs Leopards might have added simply disappeared.

The bowling unit worked as a group. Venky Bollineni picked up two at the top with an economy of 7.00. Jaswanth Maddela took two more through the middle, including the lbw on Sai Raman Taduri that slowed Leopards’ early momentum. Vignan Reddy Manda was the most economical of the lot — four overs for 23 without a wicket, but the pressure from his end made things happen at the other.

Bowler	O	R	W	Eco
Venky Bollineni	4	28	2	7.00
Vignan Reddy Manda	4	23	0	5.75
Jaswanth Maddela	4	30	2	7.50
C M Nafi	4	33	4	8.25
Shiva P	4	35	0	8.75

With the bat

The chase started with purpose. Vignan Reddy Manda and I put on 69 for the first wicket in six overs, which meant the asking rate never had a chance to climb. Vignan’s 20 off 17 with four boundaries gave us exactly the start the situation needed — quick, clean, no unnecessary risk.

I carried on from there. 44 off 24 balls — six fours, one six, a strike rate of 183.33. The ball was coming onto the bat nicely at Waverly, and with the platform already built, the job was about keeping the momentum rather than manufacturing it. Got out bowled to Anish Katragadda at 85-2 in the ninth over, which meant there was still work to do.

Vinay Inala contributed 17 off 14 before falling, and when Mani Prasanth Sakshi was run out at 114-4, the chase still needed 36 from the back end. Srikar P and Manash Bora made sure it never got tight. Srikar’s unbeaten 27 off 23 was calm and measured. Manash’s 16 off 10 was anything but — three fours in quick succession to close it out. Between the two of them, 43 runs without being separated, and the game was done with 21 balls to spare.

Batter	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Vignan Reddy Manda	20	17	4	0	117.65
C M Nafi	44	24	6	1	183.33
Vinay Inala	17	14	2	0	121.43
Mani Prasanth Sakshi	10	12	0	0	83.33
Srikar P (Wk)	27*	23	3	0	117.39
Manash Bora	16*	10	3	0	160.00

Why the game stays with me

All-round days are rare enough that they deserve their own space in the archive. 4-33 and 44 off 24 in the same match — that’s the kind of line that looks good in any format. But the part I’ll hold onto is the sequence: getting Nagaraj bowled when he looked set for something bigger, then watching Srikar and Manash finish a chase that could have wobbled after we lost four.

The extras column told its own story too — 16 wides and no-balls from Leopards’ bowlers. That’s nearly a full over of free runs the opposition handed us. In a chase, those gifts compound quietly.

Good days happen when different people show up at different moments. This was one of those days.