People, who know me, are aware that Cricket has always been integral part of my life. Soon after joining Cognizant, I endeavored to join its cricket team. I started attending the practice session in October 2004. I still remember how I and Ramraj (my roommate) used to go to practice session. Practice ground was around 25 km away from our place. We had to take bus and then auto and then walk for some time to reach to ground. We were good enough and got selected into team.
As a team, we did not have much facilities at that time. There were hardly 4-5 old bats, limited number of balls, less practice hours and in the very old and low class ground. Madhav, the captain, used to carry cricket kit in his Car. Madhav, an unapproachable, strict, huge personality in first look, later I found him totally approachable. We have shared a strong relationship between us later. I may have to write another Blog about Madhav to describe him.
I was a decent batsman, but did not get place in playing 11. I used to be 12th man and carry water bottle and glucose bottle for our playing team. But I did not get disheartened and continued coming in practice session and kept waiting for my chance. Although I was not playing in the team, I always considered it my team and developed the strong, unexplainable relationship with Team and its members. The team was really good, reached in two finals, but unfortunately lost both. We got the know that Cognizant has never won a cricket tournament so far. So the obvious aim for all of us was to win a interIT cup for Cognizant.
Next season, the practice became more tough and rigorous. From 8-10 AM both Saturdays and Sundays, team has to be present in the deccan gymkhana. Before going into nets, everyone should run 4 rounds around ground. Madhav was very strict about the practice. Everyone should be regular in practice. He was in late 30s but still he was first one to reach practice ground and complete more rounds of ground than anyone else.
As a team, we did not have much facilities at that time. There were hardly 4-5 old bats, limited number of balls, less practice hours and in the very old and low class ground. Madhav, the captain, used to carry cricket kit in his Car. Madhav, an unapproachable, strict, huge personality in first look, later I found him totally approachable. We have shared a strong relationship between us later. I may have to write another Blog about Madhav to describe him.
I was a decent batsman, but did not get place in playing 11. I used to be 12th man and carry water bottle and glucose bottle for our playing team. But I did not get disheartened and continued coming in practice session and kept waiting for my chance. Although I was not playing in the team, I always considered it my team and developed the strong, unexplainable relationship with Team and its members. The team was really good, reached in two finals, but unfortunately lost both. We got the know that Cognizant has never won a cricket tournament so far. So the obvious aim for all of us was to win a interIT cup for Cognizant.
Next season, the practice became more tough and rigorous. From 8-10 AM both Saturdays and Sundays, team has to be present in the deccan gymkhana. Before going into nets, everyone should run 4 rounds around ground. Madhav was very strict about the practice. Everyone should be regular in practice. He was in late 30s but still he was first one to reach practice ground and complete more rounds of ground than anyone else.
A typical single IT professional spends 10-11 hours of its weekday in office, and looks for weekends to do some partying late night, to sleep till late morning, to roam around with girlfriend. We have no option but forget all these activities at least for 6 months since we have to reach practice ground at 7 AM every Saturday and Sunday. This was not forced but chosen not only by me but many more team members to win a tournament for Cognizant and Madhav.
The new team took some time to settle down and one bad day in quarters threw us out from the first tournament. Then we did go to Hydrabad Cricnizant but were behind in net run rate hence not qualified for the semis. Last tournament was MKM and it was our last chance for that year. I was permanent member of team this year and scoring consistently. Our team did perform well and won semis.
Stage was set, 18th Apr 2006, third final in the second year, this time against IBM. I did all my superstitious activities, most of them are trivial but I followed all, like I decided not to wear cap in whole match. I was on the field more than 47 overs out of 50 overs, scored a fifty. At one point of time, we were only one run away from victory. Yet again the glory eluded us . The Match was tied and IBM was declared winner. I was awarded the best batsman in that tournament, it did not matter . The final was lost. The season ended with disappointment... again.
Next season arrived, toughest of all. Getting up early is almost next to impossible task for me, on top of that every weekend. But cricket can force me to do anything and everything. It may sound unbelievable to many but I got up 5:30 AM in morning every Saturday and Sunday from Sep 1st 2006 to March 9th 2007 barring one or two occasion. I was not only one who was doing it. The whole team was doing the same. Madhav quit smoking which he was doing since last 21 years to be more fit.
This time around we got a very strong team, arguably best team ever played for cognizant. Cricnizant was scheduled in Kolkata in Nov and we increased the practice frequency to daily in October. Everyday getting up at 5:30 AM and going to practice ground and then practice from 6:30-8:30 and then come back and get ready and go to office, That was my schedule. Those days my project was also having tough days and I used to come back 1-2 AM from office. Personally those days was very difficult for me but I continued to practice to win a tournament. This rest less practice resulted pain in my shin bones and right knee. Right knee was always doggy since I had an accident. I used to take pain killers before playing the match.
One bad match and we lost the cricnizant Kolkata . We had a very good team and did lots of preparation, still lost it and then we lost our match against Kanbay in AJ tournament too. Both losses affected our team a lot. Madhav called for a team dinner and he gave us confidence and said I still believe this team is best team and we can still win the Ankur Joglekar Tournament.
Co-incidentally the same day my manager asked me to travel for a onsite engagement. As you know every software professional has a strong desire to travel to Onsite as soon as possible. I discussed this with Madhav and he suggested that I should go. But after what had happened in dinner party, I decided against going to onsite. (I have told this to very few till now, It might sound very foolish not to go onsite just for sake of playing cricket.) I wanted to win a tournament for Madhav.
The very next day, I told my manager that I can not go to onsite for personal reasons which I can not reveal. They tried very hard to persuade me, as I was only Visa holder in the team but could not succeed. Back to AJ tournament, we won the next match and team was back in track. Tech Mahindra was against us in quarters. Tech Mahindra was our arch rivals. Madhav told before the match, he is going to target TM's captain. Madhav scored 50 in that match, he has taken apart of Sacheen's bowling and fortunately I was on non striker end to see the this brutal hitting. We won the match comfortably. I can not resist myself to write that I also scored 50 in that match. :)
The whole week before the semis and final, I was feeling that now we are very close and this time we should not falter. My pail killer strength was also increased from 250 mg to 800 mg. Now semis against HSBC, a strong team, but somewhere in my back of mind, I was confidant that we will win. The reason was we never lost in semis before. Semifinal was Saumyang's match, he scored 92 of some 60-70 ball with 6-7 towering sixes. We scored around 220 in 20 overs and it ended up one sided match.
11th Feb 2007: The Final frontier, against Kanbay. We had lost a match against them already in league stage. . DC was also present in the match to boost our confidence. We did all superstition that we can think of for finals. Few of my superstitions : To wear exactly same attire which I wore in semis, Same breakfast. Going to Madhav's place following the same path which was followed yesterday (in semis). Sit on left side on the Back seat of Madhav's car. Madhav followed his own superstitions. He would always have 5 persons in the car, he also follows the same path to ground and, he will bring his elder son Sai in this car to ground and for the toss as well.
This time around we got a very strong team, arguably best team ever played for cognizant. Cricnizant was scheduled in Kolkata in Nov and we increased the practice frequency to daily in October. Everyday getting up at 5:30 AM and going to practice ground and then practice from 6:30-8:30 and then come back and get ready and go to office, That was my schedule. Those days my project was also having tough days and I used to come back 1-2 AM from office. Personally those days was very difficult for me but I continued to practice to win a tournament. This rest less practice resulted pain in my shin bones and right knee. Right knee was always doggy since I had an accident. I used to take pain killers before playing the match.
One bad match and we lost the cricnizant Kolkata . We had a very good team and did lots of preparation, still lost it and then we lost our match against Kanbay in AJ tournament too. Both losses affected our team a lot. Madhav called for a team dinner and he gave us confidence and said I still believe this team is best team and we can still win the Ankur Joglekar Tournament.
Co-incidentally the same day my manager asked me to travel for a onsite engagement. As you know every software professional has a strong desire to travel to Onsite as soon as possible. I discussed this with Madhav and he suggested that I should go. But after what had happened in dinner party, I decided against going to onsite. (I have told this to very few till now, It might sound very foolish not to go onsite just for sake of playing cricket.) I wanted to win a tournament for Madhav.
The very next day, I told my manager that I can not go to onsite for personal reasons which I can not reveal. They tried very hard to persuade me, as I was only Visa holder in the team but could not succeed. Back to AJ tournament, we won the next match and team was back in track. Tech Mahindra was against us in quarters. Tech Mahindra was our arch rivals. Madhav told before the match, he is going to target TM's captain. Madhav scored 50 in that match, he has taken apart of Sacheen's bowling and fortunately I was on non striker end to see the this brutal hitting. We won the match comfortably. I can not resist myself to write that I also scored 50 in that match. :)
The whole week before the semis and final, I was feeling that now we are very close and this time we should not falter. My pail killer strength was also increased from 250 mg to 800 mg. Now semis against HSBC, a strong team, but somewhere in my back of mind, I was confidant that we will win. The reason was we never lost in semis before. Semifinal was Saumyang's match, he scored 92 of some 60-70 ball with 6-7 towering sixes. We scored around 220 in 20 overs and it ended up one sided match.
11th Feb 2007: The Final frontier, against Kanbay. We had lost a match against them already in league stage. . DC was also present in the match to boost our confidence. We did all superstition that we can think of for finals. Few of my superstitions : To wear exactly same attire which I wore in semis, Same breakfast. Going to Madhav's place following the same path which was followed yesterday (in semis). Sit on left side on the Back seat of Madhav's car. Madhav followed his own superstitions. He would always have 5 persons in the car, he also follows the same path to ground and, he will bring his elder son Sai in this car to ground and for the toss as well.
We were batting first. I got out at 4 runs :(. But Amod and Saumyang added around 100 runs for the 2nd wicket. We were set for more than 200 runs at one time but lost the plot in the middle and but we
got the score of 186 thanks to to some hitting in last few overs.
Kanbay lost the 4 wickets quickly and we were on top. But in 5th pair stayed and slowly threatened to take game away from us. Shortly their score was around 100 and our middle over bowling seemed ineffective. We needed a breakthrough and it was provided timely by Utkarsh, unusually by his fielding. He fired a throw from thirdman right over the stumps, I had to just collect the ball and dislodge the bails. I looked towards umpire and his finger rose slowly. We knew now the game is ours. Slowly we were on top and by the time Madhav was going to bowl the last ball of the match they were 9 down and needed a 39 runs. I asked all players to come in slips and we had 9 slips. Still the Madhav got the last man caught in slips. Finally we won after 3 years.
I ran towards the stumps and took the middle one in my hand. We took a winning photograph, did a long celebration in pavilion, poured water on others in absence of champagne. We went to prize ceremony that very night, had a grand dinner. I came back to bed, I was tired but satisfied, The Dream was finally achieved.
I traveled New York next month and I am here since then. But I still miss those days and I am sure everyone in the team must be missing like me.
got the score of 186 thanks to to some hitting in last few overs.Kanbay lost the 4 wickets quickly and we were on top. But in 5th pair stayed and slowly threatened to take game away from us. Shortly their score was around 100 and our middle over bowling seemed ineffective. We needed a breakthrough and it was provided timely by Utkarsh, unusually by his fielding. He fired a throw from thirdman right over the stumps, I had to just collect the ball and dislodge the bails. I looked towards umpire and his finger rose slowly. We knew now the game is ours. Slowly we were on top and by the time Madhav was going to bowl the last ball of the match they were 9 down and needed a 39 runs. I asked all players to come in slips and we had 9 slips. Still the Madhav got the last man caught in slips. Finally we won after 3 years.
I ran towards the stumps and took the middle one in my hand. We took a winning photograph, did a long celebration in pavilion, poured water on others in absence of champagne. We went to prize ceremony that very night, had a grand dinner. I came back to bed, I was tired but satisfied, The Dream was finally achieved.
I traveled New York next month and I am here since then. But I still miss those days and I am sure everyone in the team must be missing like me.
