Second Tourney with SMS

It's been four years now and the same line would still go. Fielding still differentiates SMS and others. I was quite lucky to see this from close quarters in the next three years, being shifted from DSM to SMS due to a re-org. At first things were not that easy, but after settling down it was time to rejoice. The cultural shift took some time but it was clearly evident for me that I had joined a bunch of enthusiastic people. Sanju Burkule, the manager himself was so enthusiastic that it made the adrenalin flow in the whole team. I remember my introduction to the SMS team when people were more interested in knowing my hobbies rather than asking me about my experience and work life.

As i was just settling down, it was time for the second internal tournament. Encouragement from managers was way above expectations. The seriousness of practice where even the managers attended, one directional leading, a few interns (fress legs), catching and fielding sessions a must in every session was very new to me. I have seen people coming for practice and then staying back late in office to complete their work. The environment was awesome. Aditya Dastane was my cubicle mate then. He had joined as an intern, a keen learner and tremendous lover of the game. An intern is generally loaded with a lot of work as he has to prove himself. Aditya did that quite easily and i feel cricket helped him indirectly. He got to know a lot of people and hence he could speak openly. His confidence in Cricket and work grew in leaps and bounds. An agile fielder (then), always has something to say to the batsman when he is bowling his off spin and always trying to induce mistakes from the bowlers when he is batting. I had a feeling that he would rightly fit into BMC External team as he has the temperament and the shots.

Durgesh was another enthusiast. I was really impressed with his fielding in the second tourney. It went on to decrease a little in the third but i always felt that he could pull off a match for us sometime. He is a good runner between the wickets, not a flashy batsman but someone who could take singles and create frustration in the opposition. He played a crucial innings in the finals of the second tourney when our chase required a player just like him to keep things under control. It was Durgesh and Rahul ( well known as Kabir Khan now) who played a crucial role. My man of the match in the second tourney final would have been none other than Rahul Saraf. He hadn't played much before the finals due to injury and low confidence. He had a chance to be in the playing eleven as Clyde was not available for the match. He proved himself perfectly. I can still remember him going down the wicket and hitting a straight four to Shripal Chopda (best fast bowler BMC has produced till date). That really boosted the mood in the dressing room and at that very moment we knew we had a chance. Probably that shot was the turning point and people in the dressing room started believing in themselves. We won the match convincingly and it surely wouldn't have been possible without Rahul. That match mattered so much to the people that we had a few interviews after that match just like the international ones. Amiya Pattnayak was SMS official photographer an he did a great job.

Akshat Nimbalkar was the catcher of the second tournament for me. His catching was just amazing. As a batsman i would surely rate him in the first 5 in BMCI. He is technically very sound and has a great control over his shots. I like his pull the most. I haven't seen him playing cricket with a leather ball, but I am quite sure that he can do a great job. He didnt perform much with the bat during the second tourney but his bowling compensated that comfortably. His skidding bowling action was deceptive and turned out to be special in the finals. We both used to bowl during the 6th - 10th over of a match and I would be really confident of his catching at mid-off. I can still remember him taking a skier off my bowling dismissing Amol Hirve. Talking about fielding, I cannot complete it without Pradeep Rai. Fielding at short mid-wicket he would constantly encourage our bowlers and distract the batsman. His calculations are amazing and statements like “Single jane do, unko aath runs per over chahiye” would really get under the skin of the batsman and has really got us out of crunch situations. I can easily say that one wicket should be added in every game just for his speaking.

Another intern Mayur Karote played some awesome strokes in lead-up to the finals. A regular BMCI cricketer put his hand up for wicket keeping and did a great job. He has a great smile and he would always give it to the opposition. I think he also bowled a couple of overs in the tourney and was quite successful. He was mainly our back-up bowler to cover up if any of the regular bowlers had a day off.

Sharad Ghag, Murtuza Tawari, Prasad Nirantar were good in their own way. These guys always ensured that the spirits were always high. I must have mentioned all the eleven by now but SMS is not complete without GG ( Gunanand Nagarkar) and Clyde Dsouza. They chipped in every now and then and i specially remember both of them for the game against IDM in semi-final. Our top order had collapsed drastically but they ran well and gave us the much needed score of 86 in 12 overs. We must have got 25 runs off the last two overs without a single boundary, running 2's and 3's. I cannot forget that game personall, thanks to my captain Nitin for giving me six slips to bowl with. It was an amazing scene and we got a wicket in the slips, but was not allowed due to sledging in the slips. It was an Australian way and I enjoyed it to the fullest, something that I will cherish thoughout my life.

I think I must have missed many people but my mind and memory are not co-operating. Anyways, so my man of the second tourney is none other than Nitin. I wish I had the scorebook to really calculate his average. This was the sole reason to introduce scorebook in the 3rd tourney to have the statistics by the end of the day :). He oepened our batting as well as bowling...... wickets and runs in plenty on his name and for me he was the man of the series. I think SMS was the first team to have spinners bowl the first few overs, with accurate line and length just when the ball used to be new and difficult to handle for the fast bowlers. Soon the trend was followed by Legacy in the third tourney, but the innovative idea was from SMS and it proved to be the turning point. The strategy to rub the ball, remove the fur to assist in fast bowling proved critical in our success. Overall an impressive win against DSM which consisted of the likes of Shripal Chopda, Amit Sharma, Dhiraj Dhoot was phenomenal. Batting was shakky throughout the series for SMS but bowling and fielding was superb. Overall the second tourney ended with a lot of media talks, interviews and photographs, some of them would be with me forever. Hats off to Rohit Dubey (urf Baba) for organizing such an amazing tourney. Things wouldn't have been the same without his dedicated efforts. His resource management skills are worthy to learn.