Oct 11th match:
How long have I been waiting to write something abt cricket...Its been more than a month since we last played, although my last blog was some 2 months back..Although we played couple of times in Sept, there wasnt anything interesting to talk about...
As Mother Nature decided to show some mercy on the ground next to my house, little did we expect that it would be so generous..The two pitches were covered with grass completely obviously helped by the rains in the last 2 weeks..Maybe this has got to do something with every senior director or executive in amat talking about the importance of "Going Green" or me starting to work on GreenBox recently...^)
Neither does anyone have the expertise in making the drop-in pitches nor does anyone have a family farm background to keep off the grass from the pitch...That would have been the only way we could continue playing on the same pitch. Hence we were forced to play on a ground next to santu's house..This ground more or less resembles the ground at ITPL(although the dimensions are quite small)... But it was fun playing here, Anoop pointed out that atlast he gets to play in a pitch where he can trust the bounce. All these days, the pitches at the lush green field used to favor the bowlers who used to hit those rough patches..We played 4 matches with 6 overs per side and runs only on the off-side. No prizes for guessing why we could accomodate more matches this time. Only 7 of them turned up in the morning(myself, Sekhar, Anoop, Ayush, Pritesh, Kumaresan and Suresh) although 12 of them promised...
It was defenitely a strange feeling to make two teams, when me and sekhar selected two folks each and then struggled to find more players as there weren't any...Then while batting, since our team had just 3 players, I pointed out that the last batsman can bat(little did I realize at that time that number 3 was the last batsman!!!!)..However we managed to find some 3 or 4 local players from the 2nd match onwards... If there are more haath-givers next week, we might well have to bank on the attendance of these local players for the count...The odds of these guys turning up are much higher than any of our folks..
Spend the next few minutes in reading some of the most bizarre excuses that I have ever heard in my life. I dont wanna mention the names, but folks who gave those excuses would obviously enjoy reading the other messages, thinking deep down whether their story was better than any of the other ones..hehe
Here are some of the SMSes-
-> "Please keep the phone next to you in the morning so that i can call u for the route map"..What happened was exactly the opposite, the person did not pick the phone when i had called him some 5 times in the morning..Maybe his theory was right as the sms never talked about the person himself keeping the cell next to him in the morning...
-> "Sorry I cannot come as I am not feeling well, shall make it next week"....This reminded me of those fake leave letters from the good old school days..This one was from the same person in one of the saturday mornings( @ 6:30am) "I am going out of town now, shall make it next week"
-> "Jithu very sorry i came back at 3am in the night and just got up now"...This is after confirming several times on fri and sat nights through phone calls and emails "Yes Sir I will surely join this sunday!"
-> "We are planning to go to WonderLa in the morning, hence i will come if the plan is cancelled"..This must have been genuine as the guy never promised that he would come this weekend...
-> "I am actually out of town, shall join you next week", when i had called one of the folks on sat evening although the guy promised that he will defenitely turn up in the morning...
Save the best for the last-
-> "We are at Bannerghatta Park now, not sure what time will get home..Tomorrow looks tough", I got this sms at 3:30am today...^*)
-> There are couple of guys who still have to respond to my early morning calls and smses....Maybe they are still not awake after the sat night adventures...
Guys, you dont have to be nice to me...I know some of them are really genuine, but it would be great if you can let me know one day in advance..What happens with all the promises is that there are several guys who come regularly from such long distances like Anoop, Suresh etc based on the count on friday and end up seeing just few folks in the morning. Then we have to squeze in resources to perform multi-tasking just like the way the projects are handled in our companies...^)
Aug 8th match:
This week the count was 11...As usual there were last minute excuses- Jayteerth and Kumar now have the distinction of most number of entries into this elite group successfully...
Suresh had brought 3 of his cousins..As the count was so low this week, we ended up playing a match against Suresh's team..`!). We successfully defended scores of 40, 60 and 50 in the 3 matches.... Santu(for your records), I have an unbeaten record for the past 2 weeks now.....*)First match, Vivek was awesome, 2nd match- Anoop hit couple of sixers on the off-side..Let me wear Santu's shoes for a change..I also hit one six on the leg side in the 2nd match and picked up 3 wickets in the 3rd match...Since there was no Dada or Pritesh today, entertainment factor was almost zero. It is really boring when we do not have those one-liners and all those controversies with the wides.. Since we could not afford the luxury of having an umpire, keeper had to keep count of the number of balls in an over, wides, no balls...Even then, there was not one such confrontation..Hopefully, our dada would not need a driving lesson next week & we are not deprived of the entertainment...
Guys, How about playing a match coming Friday(Aug 14th) in the ITPL ground itself? We need to book the ground on Mon or Tue(latest) by paying a DD of 1000/-. Currently we have around 19 folks in the "To" list. If each of us can contribute 50 bucks each, then we can easily play here. For Pritesh, it is just a matter of sacrificing his samosas just once!!!!
If all of you guys agree, can you please hand over 50/- to Anoop on Monday so that we can book the ground by Tue morning. It is important to book it by Tue as the ground gets full especially on Fridays and booked by other companies in advance.
If you have any more folks who might be interested to play at ITPL and agreable to pay 50 bucks, let me know..
Aug 2nd match:
This week we were back to almost full strength(14 guys)...Not to mention 6 of them were missing from the below list ...Isn't that g8? Lets keep this count and fun going every week..
-> What better way to start than talk about Dada's unbeaten record being broken today...Actually I had him selected in my team for the 1st match.. For some weird reason, Dada opted to get into the opponent team..Maybe he thought he can continue his winning streak again. But lightning doesnt strike thrice!!!
First match we chased 41 runs in 8 overs and got it easily with 1 over to spare. Second match, we chased down 62 in 8 overs..This one was a tough match, victory obviously helped by our dada giving couple of sixers in the 2nd last over(when 24 was needed of 2 overs)...Dada followed his customary tradition of leaving just before the 3rd match starts...This time the statistics were slightly different.. He left with a "Beaten record of 0-2" and made a sarcastic statement "I want to keep my beaten record intact"....I am going to follow his footsteps for the next 1 week constantly reminding him of what happened today...*)
-> As usual, there were several controversies with the wides and no-balls..2nd match, dada was forced to do the umpiring hoping that he could be the match winner for them..The ploy almost worked with so many wides and no balls given in the 2nd match while their team was batting...
-> Pritesh's sequence of runs in the 3 matches read: DNB, duck(1st ball out), duck(without facing a ball..run out)...Next week he might end up matching Ajith Agarkar's record in Australia-1999....*)
-> first two matches, Sharath(gokul's friend) had to be adjourned the man of the match...He showed great hitting power while hitting those sixers on the leg side...Ofcourse cricket is a great leveler..3rd match he was completely out of sorts while bowling and fielding(rather i should call it overconfidence).. Gokul used the freebies and continous australian style chirping to win the match for his team almost single handedly chasing 73 runs in 8 overs..If you ask my team, they would say that Gokul helped them tie the match as the last ball was called a wide although it did not look like a wide...Obviously even I would have given it a wide when a single is needed of the last ball...)
-> I really do not want to talk about this in this forum, but really cannot stop myself from talking about this...Sorry dada...
Small Story Off the field...While we were having our dinner at Ivy on friday, someone casually asked "who do you think looks the best today?"..Dada's immediate response was "That mallu girl - Bindu...*^%$@)....No prizes for guessing whom he wanted to refer....if you need to know, just come over to my desk and ask...dont wanna mention the name here... This is not strange dada- it happens after you have 5 bottles of beer and then become the lonely DJ of the alcoholic party...^)
First of all, I need to appreciate the committment shown by all the folks who turned up inspite of the rain..Special mention to Satisha and Satheesh Kannan, Suresh Krishna and his cousins because they were on their bikes...Ofcourse Anoop and all the folks who came in the car are also part of this appreciation list.
Again feel sorry for Vikedo..Looks like the change in transportation system also did not change his fortunes...Although he showed glimpses of his bowling form in the 2 overs that he bowled to Satisha..Our hero as usual was in his hitting form, but this time I agree, it was really wet and no one would have been able to grip the bat...I dont know as to who won the battle this time, But Anoop certainly took advantage of the Vikedo's dot balls to Satisha as he bowled our hero around the legs.., lets resume their tussle next week.. But full marks to Satisha's commitment- it must be one of the reasons why Producer SE has become so stable i guess...^)..
Clever folks as usual- Dada and Gokul..They got up late and saw it was raining, decided not to come..Others like Shadakshari and Jayteerth had worked in the weather forecast dept earlier I guess...
Sorry folks..I can control most of the things like guarding the pitch so that no other team invades the ground, arrange for pickup and drop service, arrange pepsi, water etc...Next time, I will even try to arrange some covers or some sort of super soppers to counter for the rainy days...There are only couple of things I can never control- Weather Gods and Dada's arrogance...%*)
As there is nothing much to write about cricket(just 5 overs were bowled due to continuous drizzle), this one is just for the comments passed while we were having some nice tea in the bakery next to the ground..Pritesh was the main hero of this small movie package...Anoop was the side hero(like Ritesh Deshmukh)..All others like me, Satisha etc were all guest appearances..
-> Pritesh was so optimistic about the weather, he said "Dont worry folks, play should start very soon as the rain has started stopping!!!*^)
-> Pritesh was in full flow this time...Lets play indoor cricket..Anoop was not far behind said "Only Piyush is used to Indore cricket..
-> I was praying for the rain gods to hear us and kept saying "Sun, Sun, plz come"... For which Anoop replied "I know most of the married folks look out for a "Son"..
-> Pritesh again after giving up on the weather said "Lets resume the match from the same point tomorrow, but with Duckworth Lewis method, the opponent team would have a revised target...
-> I was so much involved in getting things right for starting the match that I was wearing my shirt ulta..Then I could have easily defended myself saying that was a two sided T-shirt..But i couldnt because that was the applied semi-con T-shirt..
Dont remember any other dialogues..If anyone can recollect, please reply back
July 11th match:
This week, we were around 15 folks.. Inspite of the repeated mails with reminders, one guy has to be part of the "Haath givers" group. Dont have to mention his name...He is the CEO of this group and keeps hiring people every week..Even Infosys chairman would fall behind on this hiring spree.... Like anoop pointed out "He is the first to confirm, first to give Haath"..
Anyways, I feel sorry for Vikedo..Every week, he is so keen to come, but ends up being a victim of this elite group..Hey vikedo, plz take the 6 am bus and reach bannerghatta from next week onwards...Just call me or santu, one of us will pick u up...
Coming back to matches, First match our team lost by 1 run and second match we lost by 5 runs or so..To be frank, our team should have won both the matches...First one, such a low margin..Second one, we were on target (12 needed from 12)..Unfortunate run-out of Anoop and then our hero Satisha showing his hitting skills (looks like he has only one shot to play, a slog over long-on or long-off) resulted in 11 runs needed of 1 over...The power that he tries to generate to hit the ball, it seems as if the ball is sailing over the ropes all the time, but most of the times the ball ends up in the wicket keeper gloves...Any kind of encouraging words "Hey satish, this is the 3rd match, and you always play well in the last match" did not help this time around..It looks as if he would play only when he is part of the opponent team.. No worries Satish, next week we would put you in the opponent team and see if that logic works!!!!
Last match, we won handsomely with 1 over to spare(Chasing 53 of 8 overs).... No prizes for guessing who was in the opponent team for the first two matches!!!As usual, dada will be wearing the "Boasting shoes" for the next 1 week..Now that we won the 3rd match would make our dada even more proud..He will defenitely make it a point to remind me for the next two weeks "I wasnt there, hence u guys won"
Apparently, he seems to be very lucky or tends to find the right time to exit!!!!! Pritesh was suggesting maybe we should let dada sleep until 9am and then have him play the last match...Maybe that might change the fortunes around!!!!!
Some funny quotes: Pritesh saying "Mera peeche ka record theekh nai hai" for which Santu replied "Tera aage ka record bhi theekh nahi hai"..
If you guys wondered what am I talking about...It was Pritesh's fielding skills closer to the wicket or on the boundary..Dirty minds!!!!
Forgot to talk about Vivek..Vivek's batting and fielding skills were awesome..When he is fielding, the ball tends to follow him wherever he goes and while he is batting, the ball tends to find the gaps all the time..Doesn't it sound obvious that this is what an allround cricketer does...
If I have missed out on any stories, please feel free to write back..
July 4th:
-> It seems as if two consecutive weeks of count > 16 was a great accomplishment in itself...This week, "Nazar lag gaya"...we were just 9 folks from applied(although 13 of them promised that they will come)...Anyways, it wasn't that bad...It was only off-side fielding...It becomes really tough to take a decision on whether we need to play if the folks inform me at 7am in the morning...Hence plz inform one day in advance if you guys cant turn up the next day(like Pritesh did yesterday)..Hopefully, he doesnt use this privilege every week!!!!!
Absentees: Shadakshari, Vikedo, Pritesh, Debashis...
Shadakshari and Vikedo had valid reasons i guess..It was drizzling at RT nagar...
-> Some highlights: Satish seems to have found his old form..Hit a couple of sixers in the 3rd match...Although his reactions when he hit one ball on the leg side and the pause while he was bowling due to some reason were some scenes...Both Anoop and Jayteerth whacked one six each in the 2nd match...Suresh and myself won the 2nd match without loosing a wicket..We had to score some 39 runs in 6 overs....
-> We kept shuffling the teams for every match..Our dada apparently always found himself to be in the right team...I know for sure he would disagree..
He(or rather the team in which he was part of) won the first 3 matches...Then as usual, he had to leave just when everyone was ready to play one more match.....This has become a common thing..If we play 3 matches,he would leave just after the completion of 2 matches..
He left with an unbeaten record-boasting as usual...Any kind of chit chat like "Tu darpukh hai, coward hai, joru ka ghulam, lets play a bet match" did not alter our dada's decision...He also started saying "Atleast I come every week, be happy about it".....Anyways santu...no hard feelings "Just want to say Thank you for turning up today and hopefully you will turn up next week also as we want to revive your rivalry with Manju...Myself and Suresh were not far behind(we won 3 out of 4)..." Ofcourse, there were no fights this time around as Manju was missing...Sekhar has told me that Manju would defenitely come next week...
-> Bharath looked like he was in some resort and then was using one of the jim facilities in the lush green outfield relaxing his muscles, stretching his body etc etc..Anoop actually had a phrase "Bharath looks like he is having a sun bath in one of the beaches in SFO or something like that"...He looked like the Jonty Rhodes of applied, the only difference being just couple of balls came towards his direction while fielding..Although he would probably need the medicine(that Mukul always talks about) to improve his throwing...Although to be frank, I was quite impressed with the limited opportunities that he got while batting...Just before the start of 1st match, he promised that there is one six coming from his bat, it wasn't far behind though..hit a four of the first ball he faced in the 3rd match)...
-> Although the count/entertainment factor was less this time, all the guys enjoyed the 4 matches..Hopefully, next week the count is high...Common guys, lets keep the entertainment of the past few weeks going again!!!!!
June 27th match:
Some stories from last week- I have bcced Piyush in the mail as he does not deserve to be in the "to" list anymore..Next time, he would be out of this list as well if he doesnt show any signs of turning up in the next few weeks!!!!!
-> There were 21 folks last week..can you guys believe it???? Not sure where the inspiration is coming from, just keep it up...There is no shortage of fun if we do not get to play against any other team.. From applied the count was 13..Missing list: Sunil, Shadakshari
-> Who can forget the fight b/w our dada and manju(sekhar's friend)....As usual, the wides were the culprits...Dada shouting "Ch****, "Ba*** to you, F*** you, Ga*** etc etc etc, Dada showing one finger- manju reciprocating by showing two fingers etc etc.. There was "Galiyon ka antakshari" programme and it would have been a mini strip club in the lush green outfield had it not been for others who interfered!!!!!
Poor guy manju was never used to so much foul words from anyone on a single day...He just has to come to applied one day and sit next to santu for an hour .(I have the distinguished honor right now). He would immediately realize that after all life is not so different from that eventful saturday...Infact myself and others were wondering as to why the EMC folks were reacting so much to dada's vocabulary...For all of us, it would have been abnormal if we hadn't listened to that kind of language...
-> It was so boring while we were playing the 3rd match as santu had left after the 2nd match..Even manju himself was missing santu..He was asking "Why did santu go"..See how much of influence our dada can create within few minutes!!!!
-> Anyways, lets not forget about Satisha's heroics in the 3rd game(If I dont mention this, then I am gonna be whacked hehehe..)..He picked up a hatrick and then hit couple of boundaries..Even in the second match, he was the main strike bowler with all the controversies going on in the middle... Satish, Let me know if I have missed out anything..
-> Anyone else have some more stories, feel free to write back...
June 20th match:
Last week, there were some 12 guys from applied...Cant believe it, but this was true...It would have been 13 if our dada had finished his date with Kumbhakarana much earlier(not at 10:30am ofcourse)!!!!! Not sure how so many of them got inspired last week...Maybe the entry of Satisha(Rajkumar-matinee idol of CSS) had something to say...
Our hero reacted "Oh, It just missed the stumps" after he had bowled a batsman and then he tried to pick up another bat(when he missed a ball), little did he realize that he was bowled...It happens Satish when you dont play cricket for long time...
Suresh Krishna came and banged one ball out of the park...Then I bought 3 balls and gave one ball to him just in case he wanted to whack one more!!!!
Lets keep the last week's inspiration going...We have two options-
1) For the Rath ka Rajas like ",,,", we can start at 10am as the ground would be pretty much empty at that time..Weather is not a problem i guess...
2) Start at 7am sharp as other teams invade the ground around the same time...I would strongly recommend this option bcos most of the day would be gone if we start at 10am...By the time, all the guys return back home , it would be something like 2pm...
June 14th match:
Last week we played couple of bet matches with some other team and most of them didn't like playing with some other team. From applied, we were just 6 last week....Obvious reasons- you dont get to bat or bowl all the time, plus there is limited entertainment in terms of fights within our team!!!!!
So if we want to make two teams within our group, minimum requirement would be 12...Hopefully, there is some interest left for guys who haven't turned up for the past several weeks...Lets play on sat as the ground would be invaded by the same team again on sun and we might end up loosing 100 bucks again..
May 16th match:
Looks like the lush green outfield remindes everyone of our good old college days.. Last sat, the bunking count was at an all time high of 14 (that somehow matches with 14000 BSE sensex rise). It's just that we guys reacted much faster(even before election results were out) than the stock market!!!!!
It makes sense as Adarsh came out with the exact numbers for Bangalore, well before the results were out...."Who can forget our Mukul bhai walking out of office at 4 pm since Monday, only few people know that he was heading towards "Coffee Day" before leaving home...All because of Adarsh's close friendship with the election commissioner....)
The matter of fact is no-one in the "to" list turned up!!!!! Sekhar's team(in which I was one lonely member) ended up playing with some other group(looked like accenture folks)..We won all the 3 matches handsomely... Anyways, lets not allow the other folks invade our lush green outfield this weekend...
May 9th match:
There wasn't much to write from the last week's matches apart from couple of comic incidents:
-> Piyush and anshuman confrontations even though they were part of the same team. Piyush bowled the first over and anshuman requested for bowling, Piyush refusing it with his logic "If you bat first, you wont be bowling first". But then Anshuman said "piyush, you also batted first"..Piyush's response was "I was at the non-striker's end, hence I can bowl first". then ashuman asked "Atleast let me bowl the 2nd over" for which Piyush's response was "Pritesh batted last, so he has to bowl the 2nd over"...hahaha
-> Anshuman got bowled in the first ball of the 3rd match...Our hero reacted "I thought it was a trial ball"..Everyone agreed and Pritesh shouted "we need an action replay". His wish was fulfilled immediately- 2nd ball, our hero was bowled again.. Ofcourse, You can't have two trials sir.....
May 2nd match:
Ok time for some stories from today's match....
Missing List- Arvind, Mukul, Piyush, Kumaresan, Jayteerth.
Arvind and Kumar have successfully made an entry into this list for the 2nd time running..It will be an achievement that yuvraj accomplished yday if you guys can make an entry one more time....
Teams: Applied Chargers v/s EMC Daredevils- sekhar's friends.
I have used the names from two top teams in the current IPL~..). Actually, we should come up with a better name for our team..If anyone has any better ideas, please let me know...
Played 2, Won 1 , Lost 1
1st match: Applied Chargers beat the EMC Daredevils by 1 run
Score AC: 8 overs , 49/4, ED : 48/5 in 8 overs....
2nd Match : EMC Daredevils beat Applied chargers by 30 odd runs.
Score ED: 10 overs 113/4 AC: 80 odd all out...
-> While I was writing this mail watching the RR v/s DC match, our famous Srilankan commentator "Ranjith Fernando" comes up with his famous Englis phrases....
"Both Rohit sharma and Suman need to play in themselves, they just cant afford to loose deliveries...Shane Warne flighting the ball as DC are not keen on getting onto the ball...He is looking to rush through overs as batsmen are in no mood to push through.. Jadeja bowling together with shane warne lifts his performance..Shane Warne has worked out his field to precision...But this time the batsman just got up to the pitch of it, he is putting on the pressure as he got stuck into it, crowd warming upto the batting, muscled it away, again superlative timing!!!!!!" Guys I recommend you to listen to his commentary everytime he is on air and just enjoy...
Coming back to today's matches....
->Anshuman's wish was fulfilled this time...He got his heavy ball and it really mattered a lot...Anshuman hit some 3 sixers in 2nd match, I hit a couple of sixers(1 in each match), sunil broke his sequence of ducks with a six in the first match...The opponent team utilized this heavy ball more than us..They hit some 8 sixers in the 2nd match..Two of their players were amazing and I heard from sekhar that they play with leather ball regularly..
-> At the begining of the first match, Vikedo asked me "Is sekhar your brother"? Wow that was some question...Sekhar is playing for the 4th time with all of us and I am pretty sure Vikedo has atleast played on 3 such occasions...Maybe he realized this only when we started playing against sekhar's team...Now we have a competitor for Shailendra Singh Chouhan(After 1 year at appiled, the guy asked "Who is Suresh Kumaraswami?"..that too when he keeps going to Ganga's cube all the time which is next to Suresh's cubicle )....
-> Pritesh's fielding...well what can I say...he must have had some bread & butter for his breakfast or maybe he was making up for Mukul's absence...It all looked as if Mukul had called him yday nite and said "Pritesh, dont make my absence felt, let the guys not be devoid of any entertainment" . At some point he got so frustrated with all the comments about his butter fingers(santu saying "Pura body ko cover kar") , he shouted "I am just a bowler"...
Ofcourse, he managed to stop the ball once at last....
-> How can I miss the gutter incident, let me talk about it before some one else volunteers....This time, we played on a different pitch so that all the guys could play freely on the leg side..But this pitch was famous for the gutter behind the wicket-keeper....When the ball fell into the "Kodichikanahalli River" once, lots of guys were devising different stratergies to get the ball out. I got so frustrated with the amount of time wasted in the research work that I ran all the way to the river and saw couple of stones in the gutter stream. Thought I could step onto them and get the ball out...Someone from their team said "Look manager has some good stratergy"..As soon as I stepped onto those stones, became a member of this public class called "Gutter"..When I got the ball out, I raised my arms and said "Mission accomplished"...Then imagine I had to bat next with my new outfit(a black and white trouser without the shoes)....Maybe I can give the telugu heroes a good run for their money....
Lots of people had several comments looking at my state.....
Pritesh felt this incident resembled the Amitabh helicopter scene from "Slumdog Millionaire"
Someone said "You will get a warm reception at your home",
Sekhar shouted "Go home please....But I am not sure if Bhanu would let you in"..
Santu said "This is a practical case of a typical manager in software companies"...Dude you are lucky that appraisal is not happening anytime soon..But I will make it a point not to forget this...
-> No conversation can be complete without talking about our dada..He said "There are no overthrows if the ball goes behind the wicket-keeper"..Maybe this is a corollary of Arvind's logic "there are no over-throws if the keeper has thrown it"... He thought about this for sometime and gave a sarcastic smile realizing that this wont me missed out in today's summary at any cost....I am sure after reading all these, Anoop must be wondering "Why did I go to US this weekend"...
April 26th match:
There were some guys who promised they would come but did not turn up--Sunil, Arvind, anshuman, kumaresan..Some of them had genuine excuses, while others looked "ready-made"......But that's ok, it happens all the time...No hard feelings guys..But there is no sympathy for santu who was almost about to use his typical excuse of "Sleep" for not turning up, defenitely not when the match was postponed to sunday bcos of him...I had to setup a plan to get the kumbhakarana out of his sound sleep...Asked Vikedo to get down at IIM and call dada to pick him up..Rest was history!!!!!
-> Defenitely we were all missing the Mukul-Anshuman running b/w the wickets, but this time we had the old combo of Santu-piyush that was revived today after two weeks....As per our plan, they were made rival captains..But this time it was way too calm. Although there were some small confrontations, it was nothing as compared to last time at BTM...Ofcourse there was one major controversy with the off-side wides in every match...Hence we have decided to outsource our umpiring decisions to ICC from next time onwards..Maybe the Simon Taufels and the Darryl Harpers can solve this never ending problem.....
->Everyone would love to be in Mukul's shoes...The guy is part of both the teams, gets to bat couple of times every match(mostly opening position) & then settles down in his 2 favourite positions(short third-man, short square leg).....Wow why would anyone say "No" to such a luxury,....we were all missing his running partner though....But you have to give it to our bhai...He travels all the way from Nagarbhave to enjoy the game of cricket and he is one guy who has never missed a single match since the time we started playing...keep it up dude...Hopefully you are an inspiration to all the other guys who think twice before travelling so far to play cricket....
->How can I miss the fight that our dada picked up with another set of folks playing in the same ground..There were some typical chennai slangs which only me, kumaresan and Arvind would understand... Our dada was not far behind and was never short of words......He said(to one of the guys who interfered our pitch) "Boss, what do you want..do you wanna fight...tell me..tell me..? It looked as if our dada was the leader of some dawood alike gang during his school days...Liitle did he realize that he was not in Kolkatta and the other team was a proper rowdy gang..Anyways, in the end it all eased out...
-> Now some update on the matches- First match, we chased down 44 runs in around 5 overs..Second match resembled a typical Indian team of late 90s after winning the first match..we were over-confident or rather piyush's team were inspired by some means & we were bowled out for 9 runs...and then it was time for me to try out some leg breaks(ala warne), obviously it won't work when you are defending such a paltry total..
3rd match..we were chasing 57 runs in 8 overs... Anoop's batting was amazing...He must have scored some 30 odd runs and won the match single-handedly for us..Ofcourse there was dada giving him good company till the end...
If I have missed out anything, feel free to write back..Ofcourse there were some one-liners like santu saying "Tu 25 saal payle hi nikhalgaya" when mukul said "My abhi nikhal raha hoon" at the end of 2nd match...
April 18th: This one was from Mukul
Since most of you have attended these matches, it is needless to point out that I'm the best observer of the game as i don't really have any fielding responsibilities and my batting does not last for more than two overs in any game.... although I'm working on it.. the first maiden over by pritesh was a classic example of me trying to delay the inevitable - a runout :- ) ... this gives me a view of the match as a commentator would see it. So, here goes.. post match independent analysis.
We played three matches, all won by santanu's team.. perhaps he was determined to give John Buchanan a glimpse of the efficient captaincy talents of bongs.. (tring tring)
The main highlight of this match was the presence of our local heavyweight Pradeep, who has recently taken a liking to compare everything in India to Singapore.. It was a meet up after a long time, and pradeep didn't disappoint us.. he brought chocolates... and sponsored breakfast later...
There were a lot of things to talk about, and I'm not really sure where to begin.. do i start with the stunning fielding displayed by pradeep... or shall i talk about anshuman wanting a break after every run...
Nah.. i think the best way to start off would be to describe santu-bhai's entry into the ground ... dressed in glowing KKR colours, he may give even SRK a run for his money when supporting the team he loves/lives.
As usual, rakshmi has become famous for giving catching practice.. and aravind decided that rahul dravid was his role model when we needed one run to win...
No post match analysis will be complete without a description of the way i get out... i came into the match with an exceptional strike rate 1000 carried forward from the previous match, unfortunately anshuman (who is turning out to be a very good friend, and has learnt a lot of my fielding dialogues) had other plans... the rest they say is history..
shadakshari was awesome.. it was a real treat to see him bat, and adarsh hit one straight out of the park...this match wasn't without its controversies though... who can forget the out/not out discussion between jithu and santu after anshuman hit a six, and dada claimed that he would take off his shirt if he hit another... anshuman did just that, unfortunately he was caught just before the ropes... and santu, desperate for a repeat of Lord's gave us a few moments to enjoy... all in all it was an intensely rewarding and entertaining experience.. looking forward to the next set of matches soon... cheers
Some comments on this post-
Vikedo:
It appears that Santunu's team has some strong emotional feeling againts Anshuman.:-)
Can they be more blind? I think it was because of Anshuman that they won the games on saturday.
Some facts to defend my statement:
1. First match, he got me out for a golden duck and belted me when I my bowling.
2. Second match, he bowled me out and belted me again when i was bowling.
3. Hit me for the only SIX in my over, and this was at a very crucial stage when their run rate was very poor. So once again belted my bowling.
@Anshuman: this is not an eulogy. These are the reasons for my revenge in the next match. :)
Anoop:
Talking about challenges.. here are some you can try...
1> Sunil - Find a different way of getting out...rather than giving catch parctice to close-in fielders... :P
2> Anshuman - Try going more than 6 balls without a drinks break...
3> Mukul - Try not being run out. Or even better, try getting ur partner run out for a change....
Vikedo:
A satire about the venue:
Most of the beautiful things in nature has its own natural defence mechanism gifted by nature to protect it from abuse and exploitation,
Like the thorns of a rose plant,The highly acidic shell of cashew to protect the kernel,And like a the father of a beautiful girl :), etc etc.
Likewise the ground in Banerghatta which is covered by green lush grass has its own defence mechanism too.
The natural defence mechanisms of this ground are in the form of "land-mines" surrounding this ground.(How grave the danger if someone steps on the land mine or fall on top of it or worst dives and land of it). These "land mines" must have been planted (deposited) by some devoted men, women and children who have taken a huge responsibility to protect and defend the ground and most importantly to fertilize the green grasses growing in it.
When "'nature-call'ed" them they must have voluteered for their "natural" duty and it must have been a great relief for
them as well as for nature to perform their duties in time for every duty performed successfully is rewarded with a great sense of satisfaction.
(No wonder the ball goes so slow in the outfield)
However, it is unnatural to stay away from something that has a defence. Because we still pluck a rose inspite of the
thorns and eat the kernel of the cashew inspite of its shell and a man tries to marry a beautiful girl ispite of
her terrifying father.
So guys, let not the defensive mechanisms of the ground hamper your eagerness to play cricket and inspite of the "land mines"
in the field lets invade the ground and the pitch and play beautiful cricket.
March 27th- Ugadi Holiday
Wow..That was some "Ugadi special"
For those who missed out or those who forgot what happened today, here is a brief summary...
-> First and the best- who can forget the "Pole dance" by Piyush...wah re wah!!!!!
-> Mid-wicket confrontation b/w santu and piyush..wow that was some scene...Actually since it happened so frequently, we have lost count of the number of times they have fought...Actually just to keep the entertainment going, we all nominated both of them as rival captains for the second match...Right from getting the scores right, framing rules for the wides, to chucking controversy(Piyush unable to play couple of balls from santu started this)- then piyush getting out and santu saying "Tu bowled hua, isiliye chucking bol raha hai"......Arvind, myself and Anoop enjoying the onfield drama from some distance...Arvind shouting from the boundary, "Are chodo yaar, time waste math karo"...He again must have lost count of the number of times he used the same phrase...I am just wondering what if santu was one of Piyush's 8 roommates and they had to go back home & talk about this match"....hahahaha..Ofcourse, that would have been sum entertainment for the remaining 7...
-> The extras(wides must have been something like 30 in a score of 75- 1st match) would make some interesting reading on any scorecard.....I was the prime culprit though.....Infact, Pritesh and me started blaming the pitch.....Last time, we played on a different pitch, we never bowled so many wides...Infact, santu's team needed 8 runs of the last over in the first match... I handed over the ball to Piyush(since I had bowled quite a few wides in my previous over) hoping that he can win the match for us...Our hero bowled some 5 wides or so to complement our assesment of the pitch!!!!!
-> During the first match, Santu from no-where shouted "We need Vikedo in our team, after the teams were finalized and few overs were already bowled"..reason - they did not have enough bowlers in their team....Obviously this should have been sorted out before the match started...As usual Piyush ran all the way from leg-side boundary towards Santu and started his usual chit chat....Ultimately Piyush won the battle of words and was able to retain Vikedo in his team...But only few of us know as to why any team would need "Vikedo" in their team at that point of time....hahahaha
-> Amongst all these, there was one incident which most of them must have over-looked...I dont blame you guys..santu-piyush controversies must have over shadowed this one....Our Jain-bhai got run out again...He must be destined to get run out everytime he plays...I believe it was Anshuman this time around....Mukul could not call Anshuman "Inzy"(only Santu's size and stature can match Inzy!!!!) but he showed off his frustration in typical Mukul-ishtyle...
-> As usual, there was one guy missing(who promised he will come this time)...Infact he must have started his search for the ground since yesterday evening...Hopefully, he can trace the ground next time we play...1 week should be sufficient time for anyone to trace any place..We are all optimistic that he will make it next time.....Shailendra, my dear friend- google maps would be much faster, i guess!!!!!
-> There were some highlights though- Piyush and Vikedo nominated for the "Amazing Catches Contest", Pritesh's ball to Anoop, Santu(or rather wides) winning the first match for his side etc etc...
MOM: 1st match- Wides, 2nd match-Pritesh Joshi for his bowling..
MOS(or rather Men of the series): Santu and Piyush(joint-winners)...very tough decision to select one....
March 21st match-
Last week's matches have inspired everyone...Lots of guys were asking "When can we play the next match"..Who can forget the last over....Our hero Dada who says "Line belongs to bowlers"....Piyush- "The ball hit some person, otherwise it would have been a boundary..Come lets ask that guy..come come"....There were other instances like Mukul who wanted to give "Inzaman Ul Haq run out", although he wasnt...Everyone knows the reason why...
Arvind saying "there are no over-throws if the keeper has thrown it"... Lots of new rules were formed...But it was real fun..
Among all this, there was one guy who kept roaming around BTM layout all day(anyways, that is his fav dating place though), but still couldnt find any of us..Infact, I later came to know that he came to the same ground we were playing, but couldnt see anyone...Now u all know who i am talking about....Some say that he was probably on his dating rounds as usual...
