Article - FCL 2018 Finals - Preview
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FCL 2018 Finals - Preview

Fcl - Ford Cricket League Admin (FCLFordCricketLeagueAdmin)
09/06/2018

FCL 2018 Finals - Preview

After scintillating 4 months and 68 games, we are into the business end of FCL 2018. Sep 7th, will be the most awaiting day of this season as GT and F150 are clashing for FCL 2018 Champions Trophy while Visteon and Lincoln are up against each other for FCL Contenders Trophy 2018. On a whole, we could say that these four teams have entertained us from past four months are ready to do it again for one last time.

Champions Trophy 2018 – GT vs F150:

                Nerves will play a big role as two title hungry teams look to dominate each other to get their hands on FCL Champions trophy for another time when they face off in what promises to be a thrilling run feast on Sep 7th at Canton Sports Center.

Past records:

GT has won FCL four times in the past while F150 won it last year and thus entering the finals as defending champions. F150, which was formed from old teams like Fusion and Rangers, had also won FCL couple of times. So both the teams have players who have been in this situation earlier. The team that handles the pressure better will come out as champions this Friday.

Impact batsmen and bowlers:

Raj Matharoo is the most prolific batsmen from GT, while Dinesh Pandeti from F150 smashed couple of half centuries in his 5 outings this year. GT’s batting department is strong with Vraj, Praveen, Ankit, Vikas, Sid and Rao. And they have fire power of Navpreet and Srini to up the rate. And on the other hand F150 is equally strong with players like Srikanth, Sandeep, Srinivas, Chetan, Ashwani and Vijay. F150 is equally confident about their rate in slog overs as Pandeti and Vijay can clear the ropes at will.

In bowling department, Kiran and Vijay have topped bowling charts for GT and F150 respectively. Both have been very economical with the new ball and have provided early breakthrough to push the opposition on the back foot. Kiran got support from his fellow bowling partners Navpreet, Raj and Vraj in dismantling the opposition for low scores. While Vijay got the back of Dinesh Pandeti, who is having a great season this year and Manoj, Chetan have been performing consistently to provide wickets at regular intervals. Also they have got Ravi Teja who picked up a 5 wickets in Finals of FCL 2017.

Team records:

GT and F150 both have won 8 games and lost one in their journey of reaching the finals. Another interesting aspect is both teams have won 5 games batting first and 3 games while chasing. Looking at this stat both teams would prefer to bat first in the finals. Considering the pressure of a final, chasing any score above 80 will be tough ask for any team. But as both GT and F150 are filled with explosive batsmen, we could expect high scoring finals which will provide a run feast for all spectators.
 

Contenders Trophy 2018 – Visteon vs Lincoln:

                Visteon and Lincoln are ready to face for one last time this season. Both the teams have entered into history books of FCL by reaching the finals of first Contenders trophy under FCL. Visteon and Lincoln will be looking to get past each other to lay their hands on the trophy and emerge as inaugural winner of contenders. Canton Sports Center is hosting this historic match on Sep 7th and we are expecting a close encounter between these two strong competing teams.

Impact batsmen and bowlers:

For Lincolns, Sarvesh Sharma is giving a good start with the bat at the top of the order. He scored 93 during league and followed by 42 in knockouts. Sahil, Naren and Niranjan have played around him in building their innings. For Visteon, Riten is leading in runs but they have Abhilash, Deepak and Kaushik who have performed equally well.

Niranjan is Lincolns spearhead in bowling department and had a successful tournament so far with 20 wickets to his name. Sarvesh and Ankit have chipped in with important wickets to get Lincolns over the line. With 16 wickets to his name, Riten is leading the bowling department of Visteon from front. Kaushik, Prabhath and Deepak have chipped in to provide regular breaks to put a check on their opposition.

Team Records:

Both the teams won 4 games this season. Visteon has won all their games while batting first and on the other hand Lincoln had won 2 games each while batting first and second. Looking at the current stat, Visteon will fancy their chances by batting first and on contrast, Lincoln will be confident even if they get a chance to chase down the target. Both the teams are very strong in their bowling department and we could expect some magical spells for one last time.

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