During the announcement of the Loyola cricket tournament the moment it was mentioned that there is going to be a player auction my heart sank. Back in school lacking any batting or bowling skills, no one wanted to pick me. In fact I was always the last one to be picked in a team. Not to give up easily, I decided to join the Saturday morning cricket games at Loyola with the intention of at least showcasing a bit of my bowling prowess which I had been honing at the cricket nets every Sunday for a good part of last year. On the first day my fielding sucked I bungled an easy catch . Bowling with the tennis ball and cricket ball is as different as chalk and cheese.My bowling was horrible and gave up any hopes at the upcoming auction .The same deja vu feeling haunted me after possibly more than 25 years.
I was relieved to see my name in the team list of Ganguly gladiators. .As luck would have it the manager of the team was Hari who had seen me bowling at the nets once. Everyone was new to me except for a few familiar names like Fayaz, Murali who were from GG house and the captain Arjun who had let me bowl in the Saturday game.
With a week to go for the tournament the first team meeting was a virtual one on the day of the Champions trophy final where very few team members turned up. We decided that there would be a net session on the coming Tuesday and a really productive one but at least 4 members of the team were missing. This was a huge confidence booster for me as I was able to bowl my heart out and gain some really good confidence which was at its lowest earlier in the week.
At the practice matches onThursday 2 new team members joined us. The practice matches helped us really to gel well as a team and bring out a decent performance. I was living out one of my wildest childhood dreams of having opened the batting and bowling in a match. The biggest plus point of the team was the team captain Arjun who was a fantastic leader encouraging and putting at ease everyone in the team.
Sitting from Left to Right- Karthick, Lawrence, Dhansh
Standing from Left to Right- Angelo, Arjun, Murali, Fayaz, Vignesh, Hari, Rohit, Aravind
The Match day started for us with a small huddle where the Team manager Hari handed out the jerseys to each of the team members with everyone applauding . Undoubtedly, you got a feeling that you were part of something big. This team huddle became an integral part of our day with one happening at the beginning and end of all the matches .
We chose bowling in our first match of the day owing to the fact that we had back to back matches. This was the first masterstroke of the day by our captain Arjun. His rationale being that since we are playing back to back matches he didn’t want us to be fielding 2nd in the first match and fielding first in the second match. For the first match of the day against Dravid Dominators catches were being dropped left right and center possibly due to impostor syndrome. Murali’s 3 wickets and 2 fantastic catches by Dhansh managed to restrict the total to a manageable 84 runs in 8 overs. A blistering knock of Arjun who scored 57 of 21 balls and a cameo by Dhansh 16(7) ensured that we romped home by an over to spare.
Even before we could savour the success of the first match we were on the field for the second match with Tendulkar Trailblazers. A disciplined bowling effort by Aravind and Karthick who scalped 2 wickets each ensured that we had to chase a target of 80. This was also the beginning of some fantastic catching in the deep by Fayaz(2) and Karthik (1) which was a constant feature in the subsequent matches till the very end of the tournament. We didn’t get the best of starts with the openers back in the pavilion cheaply. Karthick 23(17) anchored the innings with Arjun 14(5) and Fayaz 29 (12) going all guns blazing. By the 6th over it appeared that we would comfortably romp home.But cricket is a funny game . A couple of run outs including one brilliant direct hit from the deep by Kiran Padmanabhan brought the equation to 1 run from 5 balls .I came in as the last man with the last over being bowled by their captain Sreejith.The Tendulkar Trailblazers could smell blood they pulled all the fielders in to prevent the single . The pressure was building as the bowling team took its sweet time to set the field. There was pin drop silence as the spectators were on the edge of their seats. Ball pitched outside off, I pierced the infield with a square cut to notch up a tense victory. After the winning runs I let out a feral cry and tried to make a David Warner jump but pulled out at the last moment. As I walked back to applause my captain remarked that he knew that I could pull it off. We got a well deserved break after back to back matches in the scorching sun.
We had already qualified for the final so our third match was a dead rubber but we didn’t want to let up the intensity. I got to bowl a couple of overs and picked up 3 wickets thanks to some fantastic catching by Karthick in the deep. The school boy in me who was disappointed all those years back in this very ground was thrilled to bits. I enjoyed the high fives all around. Thanks to some lusty blows towards the end by Abhilash and Karan we were set a target of 77. The entire batting order was rejigged and Hari opened the batting while I came in 1 down. In spite of some wonderful hits by Arjun 20(13), Vignesh 19(5), Fayaz 17 (8) we fell short of the target by 8 runs.
The final saw us fielding first for the 4th time in as many matches in the day. Tendulkar Trailblazers got into a rollicking start and we felt the pressure of the final has been getting the better of us. But as always Arjun led from the front and picked up 2 wickets. Fayaz bowled 2 overs for 17 picking up a wicket and we managed to pull them back to 98 in 8 overs. This was the biggest team total that we had to chase the tournament. Everyone was tensed but Arjun put us at ease saying that we only needed to score 13 runs per over for a win.Oblivious of losing both the openers at 8 runs Fayaz 36*(12) and Arjun 33 (17) played some breathtaking cricket to keep us within the required run rate for the next 4 overs. Just when we thought that Arjun would take us over the line we lost his wicket with 18 runs from the target in the middle of the 6th over. But Murali had other plans he finished off the game with a hat trick of sixes to our delight .Ganguly Gladiators were crowned the maiden champions of the LOBA* summer cricket tournament.
*LOBA- Loyola Old Boys Association
Post final scenes
Looking back
At the onset itself I don’t think that winning the championship was even remotely in the back of our minds when we joined for our first virtual team meeting. Most of us were meeting each other for the first time during the net session on the Tuesday before the tournament. The practice matches with our eventual finalists, the Tendulkar Trailblazers two days before the tournament, was the first time we were playing as a team.
The key was definitely the leadership team of Captain Arjun and Manager Hari who managed to motivate a team of individuals who have come together for the tournament within say a span of 10 days. Arjun, our captain, was cool as a cucumber all throughout . Finest example was during the finals inspiring the team to restrict the score to a manageable total after some expensive overs. Hari's support was invaluable right from the team selection at the auction to the finals. Fielding except for the first match was top class. Catches at the deep were wonderful. Net practise and the practise match with the finalists was the X-factor I believe. Everyone knew each other which greatly helped. Rather than individual brilliance everyone chipped in at crucial times . There were also some fine individual performances too.This was a classic example of individual brilliance would win you matches but team effort will win you championships .
Winners huddle
Raising the cup
