Cricket!!!

Here is my penultimate post. 

One of the unwritten rules in any college, atleast in India, is seniors' representation in any sports team is disproportionate unless you have prodigies in the junior class.   The reasoning is simple - this is our last year in college you have one more year to go.  It works in almost all of the cases but we had a situation going the other way.  There were 2 Ranji players (D Suresh and Gavin) and I believe 1 under-19 state player (Srinath).  Some more were accommodated more b'cos of their association with us than their cricketing skills (Chakri, Sudarshan). 

I, was selected the Captain, as I was playing for OU cricket team in the HCA league.  No one ever checked if I had the captaining skills.  The only situation where it came to the fore was in the quarterfinal game.  More on that later.

Here was our team:
1. Jai Kumar
2. Srinath
3. D Suresh
4.Chakri
5. Vinod
6. Mani
7. Sandeep (wicket keeper)
8. Aluri
9. Gavin
10.
11.

This was more constant with others filling in.  The other constants were the cheer leaders: Sharmila, Vindhya, Namratha with occasional appearances by Pannaga, Usha, and junior girls Jayanthi, ...(I dont recollect the name of others).

Gavin was our star fast bowler and many opponent teams requested that he not bowl at his regular pace !!! We were so considerate and confident of winning that Gavin would bowl from a shorter run up.  In one of our matches held behind the MSc Physics building we even offered not to allow Gavin bowl as the pitch was extremely bad.  But the folks did not expect Al to bowl such nasty deliveries and we won the game to get into the quarter finals with AV College.

This was an interesting match as we played in OU A grounds for the first time.  The ground is big and most of us had tough time running around.  Captain of AV college, Srikanth and I played for OU.  The match was riveting and we had to score 2 runs of the last ball, ended up scoring 1 and ending the match in a tie.  Sharmila had her Ganesh locket in her and feverishly praying.  Vindhya almost chewed her nails out.  AV college folks got wild over some umpiring decision and chased the umpire away.  It was decided to toss up to come up with the winner.  Sensing trouble Srikanth suggested we have it in Ranga Reddy (Physical Director's office) and I requested all our folks to meet at the canteen.  We tossed and I called it right.  This is was my only contribution besides knowing Srikanth personally and avoid getting physically mauled by AV college guys.  There was a huge gang of AV students waiting outside and Srikanth told them that they won the game to ensure I go out safely !!!

I break the news in the canteen and we all celebrated with Sandeep paying the bill, as always.


Here I go again.."for the first time in the history of our MBA...blah blah blah".  Well, I cannot but repeat it.  For the first time in the history of our MBA we reached the semi-finals of the inter-college cricket championship.  This was against a more formidable team - Nizams, in their backyard.  We all show up nervously and I go out for the toss with Baliquddin (Azharuddin's brother) and we decide to bowl first.  While we had two Ranji players they had 3 or 4.  With the first ball Gavin had their opener bowled.  The umpire refused to give out as
1.  there were no bails, 2. the stumps just moved and 3. it was their star bastman and their home ground.  We all appealed, yelled, and gave up.  I bowled, twisted my ankle and went out.  We had some 250 runs to score.  Srinath, Jai, and D Suresh ensured we got really close but not good enough to win.  (I think we made around 230).  That ended our campaign and I am not sure if any subsequent batch was able to replicate it.

There were many interesting side notes with Namratha asking what the abdomen guard was for, Vinod itching for a fight with AV college guys though we were very clearly outnumbered, etc..  At the end of it we created history and thoroughly enjoyed doing it.

Gavin left for England to play in the county and I happened to meet D Suresh on a flight as he was moving to West Indies to settled down there. 

watch for the one last blog in this series...