10% of my life

It's been about 6 years 8 months in BMC and it looks as if I had joined yesterday. I have seen people sending out last day mails "Today is my last day and it has been a wonderful experience....and so on". I wonder if they really mean it....and now its my turn to send something like this...........so thought, How could I make it different? I would definitely not like people to think....the same old mail....same old thoughts....so thought of putting down all that I enjoyed over here for the last 6 years 8 months! with some facts and figures to actually back that statement.

September 2004, was when this journey started all of sudden located in the heart of Pune,in an unknown world called BMC. BMC soon became my second home. Cricket, Football, Badminton and Work was all I did over these years and some people might definitely feel that I have sorted the above list as per priority :). Surely that wasn't the case....and I was not recruited in sports quota either! So let me start with Work first

Work

Workaholic - A workaholic or ergomaniac is a person who is addicted to work.
I had to find this definition on google to know eaxctly what is meant by this coz over the period of time that I have been here, I have heard a lot of people saying this to me. This might be a surprise to some, but yes. I have really enjoyed working. My managers over the years were really good in getting things out of me....the right way... and hats off to them...Girish G, Madhura G, Sandeep S and Rajesh K. I believe that one cannot flourish unless you get the right fodder and these people provided me with exactly what I liked and need a special mention here. My colleagues were the real motivating factor for sure. It's been a dream to be with such diverse people with great technical and non technical expertise. This is not really meant to sound like the Oscars, but here we go....

- Mahendra Chuadhari - Add value, I learnt this basic thing from you.
- Aniruddha Katkar - Dedication to work is what I learnt from you.
- Gunanand Nagarkar - Enthusiasm generates ideas.
- Devendra Dehadraya - Keep smiling all the way
- Rahul Saraf - Attitude is the key
- Madhura G - Good management
- Pradeep Bagul, Ajit Gadekar, Vijay Gholap, Pritesh Saharey ...great team players.
- Prasad Nirantar, Shekhar Londhe, Pradeep Rai, Ashish Modak, Sachin Patil - Dev and QA can collaborate and win
- Amol Chaudhari, Shantanu Thuse, Harshal - It was great to be your lead, you taught me a lot of things. It was good to interact with Noida people too.
- Lalit Shukla, Ashish Kumbhare; it was great to work with you.
- ..............................

Cannot include all the names, but thanks everyone!

Enjoyed:-
- Creation of TestHarness, making it flexible and scalable, long R&D and demo hours.
- Every bit of Java, C++, Silk Test, Perl, XML, XSLT, SOAP, RESTful webservices etc.
- INDigenous Ideas preparation and presentation.
- Automating the automation, building test automation from scratch in AO.
- Migrating from TestLink to HP QC.

Cricket

Cricket in BMC can be divided in external and internal tournaments. Personally I enjoyed external much more than internal....but I had reasons....

Probably one of the main reasons that kept me going....for all these long years at BMC.....As a college student I had seen a couple of matches played on Poona club with Hrishikesh Kanitkar in action. It was my dream to play at Poona club some day, lush green outfield, boundaries full of trees and an amazing pavilion. Thanks to BMC all this was possible and I lived my dream through, played matches....won few lost many....but the experience was out of the world. Practicing on PYC was another treat for me........7:00 AM in rain or sun.....and under guidance of Mahendra Gokhale......the ex fitness trainer for Mumbai Indians.....I couldn't ask for more....could I? Ofcourse I couldn't ball slow spinners as Mahendra sir wanted......but I did take every advice and tried to implement.......some did really work at the end on Infosys ground......but probably it was too late :)... It was amazing to play on the best grounds in Pune.....Deccan Gymkhana, PYC, Sinhagad College Ground (SCG with a lot of bounce), Jail ground (my favourite hunting ground), Tata Motors ground,Nehru stadium, Shinde HS ground and of course the injury prone Ammunition Factory ground......Is anything left? probably the one being built for Pune Warriors :)..... Hopefully i can stay fit to play there as well......


Fitness.....Cricket practice definitely built it...I can still run 10 kms in one go....couldn't ask for anything better at this age......resulted in a lot of stress release and kept me enthusiastic and ready for challenges in other spheres of life. Some great memories do linger around from time to time......like these......

- Mayuresh Wagh unleasing classics with both bat and ball and then taking brilliant catches in slip.

- Hrishikesh Deshmukh taking a leaf out of Sehwag's book and hitting balls out of the park, didn't know anything else did he?

- Kapil Kshirsagar taking a diving catch at point

- Abhijeet Gadgil and myself chasing 72 runs in 30 balls at Jail ground Vs Incat

- Amit V Sharma with his glorious cover drives, Dhiraj Dhoot's amazing shots, Shirish Sonawane's straight batted shots, Parag K's dole shole....

- Shripal Chopda with his left arm quick bowling with a smooth run-up rattling the opposition.

- Playing 40 over matches, specially Sunjanil's 375 runs off 40 overs

- Team spirit throughout and specially reaching the semi finals of Sports Nexus Inter IT on PYC

- Ranjit's sweep shot, Yogesh Somavanshi's bouncers, Aditya Dastane's glance,Rohit Dubey's "Gadgil Catch It", Sumit Srivastava's mid wicket hits would remain with me throughout.

- Amit Sharma's (Wipro) addition is a plus for sure.

- All the practice sessions......breakfast @ Good Luck..Roopali...umm.....just awesome!


As a cricket team we were always deprived of resources; in terms of quality cricketing skills and in terms of quantity of people. But we always gave it everything encouraged each other and played well against the top teams. The joy of winning against quality opposition with limited resources is just out of the world, the same feeling when Ireland won against England or the respect Ireland carried in 2011 world cup; respect coz they fought against all odds. I think over the period of years we were kind of this team, underrated but always with an element of surprise. We have not won anything major till now; but the experience has been just amazing.

Internal, I have already written some detailed blogs so will not write all that again. I really enjoyed it, winning and loosing. With due respect to the other teams I played for, I still feel am a part of Vikings. Vikings, I will definitely miss you! and the golden moments will be cherished for ever!

Football

It's been a pleasure to be part of BMC Football warriors over a period of 6 years now. The team has shown great character over these years. As i recall, in the first year we had won only a match in the whole tournament in 2005, and now we can boast of at least 5 championship wins. Jason and Michael (Vaz bros) have been instrumental in all these wins. Hats off to them and all the team for staying united. Football is a difficult game for sure, lots of injuries, play in rain and sun, but Jason and Michael have definitely taught many like me in the team on how to go about it. I have loved every moment of it!!

Some special moments......

- Michael Vaz dribbling at least 5 players to score numerous goal (in typical hockey "Ha Key" style)

- Jason Vaz taking on as Ad-hoc goal-keeping and saving penalty kicks (resembles Dhoni, isnt it?) at crucial times.

- Dugzy chickenwala with his Messi style runs (first person to use YouTube to the fullest)

- Pushkar Waichal, Tejas Saner, & Hari's awesome defending

- Ram, Chaitanya & Vineet as goal keepers, mid-field, defence...can fit anywhere!

- Travel from Noida to Pune, just to play football :-)

- Akshay, Louis, Clyde, GG, Harry, Mathews, Floyd.....Rishi's flicks....

- and of course Subbuism :-)

Badminton

I did not play Baddy with that consistency as that of Cricket or Football, but I made a lot of friends, learnt a few strokes here and there specially from Rajat and Abhijeet Gadgil. Shubhangi, GG, Sandeep, Chaitanya, Abhay....i really enjoyed playing with you in Shivaji Housing society as well as Modern complex courts. I played baddy coz it developed my reflexes and helped me in other sports.....Hopefully I get enough courage with my knee to again start with this beautiful game.

Over all these years I have spent most of my weekends playing either football and cricket...(opps...I worked on some weekends too!)....so that becomes full year activity....and I did this for nearly 7 years....assuming average life span of 70 years ...nearly spent 10% of my life and it couldn't have been any better.

Probably I should take the credit to have sweat the most for BMC!
Wishing everyone the very best.......now and always.......this is Baks...signing off!

Click link for pictures.....

https://picasaweb.google.com/abakre/10OfMyLife?authkey=Gv1sRgCMrt2PDyvu23MQ&feat=directlink

All's Well?

Yes, I am back to blogging. Finally it took some screws to be put onto my knee for me to sit at a place for more than 5 minutes, and I must confess it had to be something like this to get me back to blogging. Now in the coziness of the hospital and in the aroma of dettol I cannot think of anything other than my knee injury.

I have been asked these questions 100 times after people hear the news of the injury.

Should be coz of Cricket or Football, isn’t it?

Yes, occurred while playing football. After talking to the best of doctors I can say that it could have occurred even if I would have missed a step on a staircase. It’s definitely not because of playing a stupid game but surely due to wear and tear.

What’s your age? Why have you been playing for so long? What do you get back?

I have been playing non-stop for 30 years now. I just love playing and there is nothing more I would crave for. Have travelled 35 odd kilometers to play a cricket match on my bike with temperature around 45 degrees. Most of my colleagues in the IT industry would say….Crazy to be out in 45 degrees?

And yes what do you get back?

What sort of question is that!! Have heard this many a times on the work front…. Whats the ROI? (Return on Investment)

The answer to that is “Much more than meets the Eye”. Probably this question should be answered by all people playing with me. My definition though would be sheer JOY!! Helps set goals, plan and implement strategies and then analyze. Might sound philosophical but it gives me a perspective on how to approach in LIFE.

What’s the injury all about?

I had a torn ACL as well as grade 2 and grade 3 Meniscus tear on my right knee. With a couple of screws and reconstruction of ACL + meniscus, problem has been fixed. Have been advised not to put any weight on the right knee for atleast 3 weeks. So that means would be on a walker for 3 weeks.

Would start:

Gym in a month’s time

Swimming and straight jogging in 3 months

Cricket in a year’s time

Allowed to play football, but will opt not to. Don’t want to write blogs like this again.

People at your home must get an award for tolerating you!!!

Surely they do. They know exactly the reason why I play and are the ones who motivate and encourage me. My company and all my colleagues are very supportive too.

Hospital: Dinanath Mangeshkar

Admission Date: 26^th Jan

Discharge Date: 29^th Jan

All is finally Well

37 wins in a row.......until this one

Yes, back to blogging and this is the last one on internal cricket for sure. Lot many people asked me this question........where is the blog? Wouldn't you write one?......or do you write only when you win?.....Well I always wanted to write no matter we win or loose.....but time constraints have resulted in this delay. So on a sunday afternoon, having seen some real upsets in T20 World cup and hoping to see more I will try and put my views on the last tourney.....with one eye on Television and the other writing this blog can expect an unstructured blog.....anyways I don't think the others are good........anyways....

So finally it was that time of the year where everyone awaits in BMC to get on to the field, have some fun, get all acts together, practise........... some ready for the 'Badla', some taking it just as part of entertainment. But overall whenever this internal tournament starts its really a different atmosphere...everyone is eager to get on the field and perform. At Vikings it was somewhat different this time. We had people on paper but that did not translate onto people on field! Nitin Rathod had joined back Vikings and so did Kapil and a few new faces. This definitely strengthened the team, but it surely was not the same that we had seen for a number of years........Winning a tournament 4 times in a row is no mean feat..... probably people were thinking.....We have been there........we have seen it all. Intensity was definitely lacking this time around. 7 people for most of the practise session, hardly 11 available on match day.....thats not Vikings for sure. Injuries, work/home stress everything played a part.

With all these things we began the tournament, a couple of easy league matches, a good match against Blade (new team) gave us some confidence. The preparation this time was so bad that I was expecting us to have some setback in the league macthes itself, but our bowling put us past the initial phases. Probably one look at the stats would definitely reveal that Viking has the best bowling attack. Vineet, Kapil, Tejas, Akshat, Aditya, Nitin himself.....well 8 bowlers in a side of 11. Thats the reason we had 4 teams knocked out for a mere 30-40 runs range in 10 overs. It speaks a lot about the deft field placements, right person at right place and importantly the Attitude! With so little, rather ineffective practise sessions we could manage these kinds of wins, speaks volumes of individual skill sets rather than team work.

We managed to get into quarter finals with 3 out of 3 wins, easy win in quarters did not help either as it never tested us out. The only win so far in which we had to actually put some effort was against blade and we won that by 50 odd runs, so we had easy wins till this point of time. Personally after this win i felt we would be tested in semis by the enthusiastic SA Support team. Likes of Hari, Devendra,Uppal,Abhishek would definitely put us under a lot of pressure. As a team we were all geared up and motivated to thwart this team, that was the only goal and for the first time i saw people all geared up mentally to handle the tough situation on a saturday morning. But this match turned out to be a cake walk. I was really frustrated with this, since we were still not tested. Many others and myself had hardly held a bat till this time. Kapil and Vineet bowled brilliantly and we were off to a great start. Vineet got a few crucial wickets at the top and Kapil rocked the middle order. Tejas and myself had very little to do in this match and at the end we had to chase 35 which we did with some changes in batting order, Prasad going ahead of others. Hats off to the field placements that we made in this match. It was 10/10 and we did hardly anything wrong that day.If I was the organiser and if I had to give Kingfisher Fair Play award :) then definitely I would have given that to Hari for his great sportsmanship. He had nicked the ball behind to the keeper and he walked straight without looking at the umpire and this was in a situation where the SA support needed him badly. Hats off to you Hari. So the goal was achieved and achieved quite easily.

So the scene was set, Remedy defeated Blade to set up a clash with Vikings. Remedy was definitely the most improved and disciplined team for sure. University groung practise sessions, I could see a lot of guys practising.....this was a totaly different scene from the last 4 years. Emphasis more on fielding, average 10 people on the ground everyday......hey thats the exact Vikings style isn't it? Well yes they played and they thought just like the Vikings even in the finals and were able to defeat us convincingly. If I had to give credit to one person for all this, then definitely it has to be Abhijit Gadgil. He did all the right things this time. Ensured discipline in practise, put fielding as a pre-requisite for winning. Won the toss and elected to field (no Remedy team has done that till date), ensured Yogesh Somawanshi finished his quota at the start rather than keeping his overs in the end.I have talked to him on all of these things in the earlier years and he implemented it in totality and he got the right results. He knew that bowling was our strength and hence asked us to bat. For the first time batting was tested and my worst fears turned into reality at the time when we were on the verge of making it 5 times in a row. I was satisfied with the way we tried to defend. I have always believed in fighting till the last and it was good to see that we stretched Remedy till the 14 th over. Overall a great show, not a happy ending for Vikings but not bad either coz i never expected us to reach the finals in the first place.

Hats off to Remedy for the way they played........hats off to the organisers specially Louis for the ground, Vineet Shripal and others for putting things in place in very short time.

Surely this was my last internal, leaving the field on a high.....though not with a win but we created a record of 37 wins in a row. Am sure this record would stay for a long long time........but surely this would not be my last blog.....in fact i am thinking of putting more things in place.....so watch out for this space!! :)

Jumping to the latest one....

Feels good to be back to writing after a long hiatus. I think the timing of the first two blogs was right but I couldn’t continue with the third or the fourth and I just lost momentum after that. Probably its like building an innings and I need to learn that and take it to perfection. The feedback on the first two blogs always motivated me and here is another one. To all those people who are waiting to here something on the third tourney, I assure you I will be back on the third one shortly, this time without loosing the momentum.

It was sometime around February 2008 that BMC was thinking of organising the fourth internal tournament. Cricket was in the air and the passion as lively as ever. But I must confess, I was least bothered. After winning three times in a row and winning convincingly, it was just not motivating. I heard some of the teams practising right from January to have a go, the others started after the usual update meeting with the organisers. I just felt it was time for someone else now, we have done it three times and we did it in style. Personally for me the zeal and the enthusiasm were missing, probably for the first time. The rest of the Vikings though, had other plans and if I had to pin point the person then it should be Pradeep Rai.

Pradeep is always filled with positive energy. He was the one who initiated and motivated everyone to start with practise. We had a discussion at the start and Pradeep, Aditya, Prasad and Durgesh had asked me to take on the mantle and be their captain to which I was totally against. I had mailed the whole team that I wouldn’t be playing this time coz I was fed up of winning J. Bjorn Borg had lost his craving for Wimbledon, after winning Wimbledon 5 times in a row. Probably I had the after effect of reading that article. Coming back to Pradeep, even after reading that mail he walks to my desk and asks me No in fact he tells me that Abhijeet I know you are going to make it to the team. A week from that day this had been his everyday routine with additions everyday like “ Are Yaar, Is Baar hame dikhana hain ki Nitin Rathod ke bina bhi hum jeet sakte hain”. That sentence really rattled my thoughts, it shook me in and out coz he had a point. Nitin was Vikings highest run getter and one of our best bowlers. To play without him was like playing without your right hand. That really brought me back to the team and it gave me a reason to play and prove something. Pradeep you deserve all the credit for this.

Rahul Saraf was ready to shoulder the responsibility of being a captain and I had a sigh of relief coz now the responsibility was on right shoulders and I could concentrate on my own game. The practise started in the regular Vikings style with all the managers chipping in namely Sanju, Shirish and Sandeep. A triplet of new faces Vineet, Tejas and Chaitanya made it more interesting. I could sense their potential on the first day itself, coz they had a right mindset. Never give up and stay cool. If I had to put that in Rahulian way then he says Attitude. Sole reason for him to recruit them and I could sense that in the game. It really did pay off in the end.

This time around the frequency of practise had gone down drastically, not that people didn’t want to but with Agile implemented time constraints did start coming our way. Iteration after Iteration, release after release it all looked in making people like machines. Practise at the start was unlike the Viking way, the number of players was low, and ground booking issues did play a big part. Though overall more importance was given to fielding. Our first match was against DSM II. Ajay Kumar was their captain and who ever have met him would definitely say that he definitely has something to say, on whatever topic and whichever place. But he seriously looks at his game and tries to prove his point to his critics. I always told Vikings never to take any team lightly and for DSM II it was no different. They had played league matches and we had to play them as our first match. It does make a difference on tennis ball cricket. You need to do a lot of adjustment and the team should look settled, match practise that was everyone says! It was a tough match for us; our batting was shaky, roles and responsibilities a bit unclear, fielding not up to the Vikings standards. We somehow managed to scrape through, and everyone who saw that match would have never dreamt Vikings winning the tournament. It was indeed a wake up call for us, time for realignment of our team, time for some long discussions.

These discussions were pretty fruitful. In some other teams these discussions lead to blame game, internal fights, aggravated ego’s etc. But with Vikings it was smooth affair coz everyone was willingly ready to accept the captain’s decision. We did a SWOT analysis of every player and for me the best decision was to promote Aditya up the order. He had played the first match at 5th position and seeing his strengths we decided him to open the innings. He was ready for this challenge and this really sorted things. The other decision was in fielding positions. Point, Gully and short fine leg were decided to be closer than usual and we expected to get at least one run out from these positions, probably most of the other teams might not have even thought of run outs. All these decisions paid off handsomely in our next match against the enthusiastic DSM support.

If I had to put money on a team to win the tournament then undoubtedly it would be DSM Support. They had a right mix about everything. Dedication, Determination was all visible. To practise after working in night shift is really phenomenal. I expected them at least to be in the finals, but unfortunately they had run onto us in the Quarters. All the plans that we did were executed to perfection. We bowled first and DSM Support bated well to score 48 runs in the first six overs. The next six overs we were able to hold them back, and that really started the frustration in the DSM Support camp. The highlight was the run out of Hari. People who might have watched that incident might think that it was an un-sporting behaviour. But to all those people who were on the field including the umpires it was pretty clear that Hari was trying to distract me from the non-strikers end. Probably they thought the only way for them to score against us was to nullify my bowling with these tactics. Hari, if you hadn’t distracted me, I would have surely given you a warning for you leaving the crease and for all people who think this was un-sportsman like, do think twice. We had to score around 76 runs in allotted 12 overs, and our batsman did it in style. Steady batting from our openers Adiya and Vineet gave us a good start. Akshat joined the party and i remember him hitting one right onto the tree and to see that from a non-strikers end is a joy in itself. It was not given a six by the umpires but truly we had made a mark and our opponents were reeling under tremendous pressure. It was my privilege to be in a situation to score 14 runs in 2 overs. We achieved it with a over to spare.

I had put in a lot of effort into my batting going into this match, coz I had analysed that we need to really bat well to get past good teams like DSM Support. I had changed my bat holding grip, made adjustments into my stance and built a lot of confidence in practise by batting everyday, something that I am really not used to. And it was good to see all this coming good at the very first instance. Going back to the second tourney my major focus was on bowling and the thinking was to bowl well consistently. I had fairly achieved that with 4 wickets in every match that I played. We won handsomely. In the third tourney I knew that I was expected to bowl well, but I wanted to make a mark in fielding and it came out finally in the finals, a planned dismissal and I was myself surprised with the catch taken. I always dreamt of taking a catch like that, running about 30 yards with the ball coming above your head and of a batsman who is a match winner. The match turned drastically from that catch and long hours put into fielding practise were rewarded. And since I had achieved things in bowling and fielding my major focus for this tournament was on batting. With Nitin not in the line up I felt I had to take that up and it was good to see it coming through in quarters and then I wished it continues in Semis.

Our opponents were DSM I in the semis and it was called the “Mother of All Battles”. It definitely lived up to that tag coz it went down to the wire. The pendulum shifted from one side to the other and finally it was a tie. First time in the history of BMC we had a match decided on bowl out in which Vikings came out victorious, thanks to Vineet for hitting the target, we had won the match well before it was my turn to hit the wickets.

This match had all the ingredients in right quantities. DSM won the toss and asked us to bowl. Shirish Sonawane was a star for DSM I and he did play well for the first six overs. DSM I were 48 in the first six. He had good partnerships with Nitin and others but a rash stroke from him did let them down. Rahul Saraf planned and bowled well to get rid of Nitin. A couple of run outs and we had to chase 84 runs in 12 overs. Our openers did there job as planned. We had asked them to stay at the wicket and try and get 6 runs/over for the first 5 overs at least. That would give us the platform to launch an attack and they managed to quite do it this time as well. But we lost a few wickets in succession and DSM was right on top. I was at the crease with somewhere around 50 runs required in 6 overs with six wickets in hand. Amit Sharma bowled an awesome delivery which crash landed in my stumps. I was walking towards the pavilion when the umpires asked me to stay back as it was a No ball. That was the moment .......the best moment for me. Akshat was at the other end and he had a sigh of relief it surely must have been the same case in the dressing room. From then on Akshat first and then Rahul and myself put our heads down, concentrated on singles and we had to get 29 runs in the last 3, two overs of which were to be bowled by Sripal. It’s always good to have Rahul in the middle in such situations coz he really takes the attack to the opposition, and it was good to see him hitting some lusty blows to get the run rate down. We had decided to run for our lives and in the process he was run out. Same was the case with Aditya. Risky running between the wickets cost us his wicket. But in the process we had created some panic in the opposition. The panic was evident and people might still not believe it but Chaintanya Kulkarni and I ran 3 runs with ball pushed to the leg umpire. With Sripal bowling, I had decided to bat by covering my stumps, moving towards the offside just to make him think differently. It paid off, not that I scored a few boundaries but it kept the score card ticking. In those circumstances I felt Sripal bowled well, the fielding let them down and they were not able to regroup. I was runout with 2 to win with 1 ball to go. In all those 27 runs that we had scored in 17 balls, only one boundary was hit. Tejas Saner walked to the stumps with 2 required in 1 ball. He was as cool as a cucumber. He walked to the stumps, the only instructions given to him was get bat to ball. He did that with ball running to short third man and the match was a tie. In the bowl out only Vineet scored and I was yet to get my chance when we were declared winners. It was an amazing moment. We had achieved what we had set off far. The three new comers Vineet, Chaitanya and Tejas had played their part. Aditya, Akshat played a matured role. Rahul Saraf was best at handling people. All in all it gave us a lot of satisfaction. But it was not over yet, as we had to play the finals on the same day against Remedy with 3 hours in-between and in scorching heat. But the achievement earlier in the day made us look fresh and we were ready for the Remedy challenge.

Remedy team has always been known for scoring huge amount of runs, a pack of star players Abhijeet Gadgil, Ashwin Patil, Rahul Shah, Ranjit Jadhav, Ram, Yogesh and even Sachin Narale. All these people can take apart any attack. We had all these in our minds going into this match. We had played them in the finals the last time as well and they had run us close. The plan was quite the same as for DSM I. We won the toss and took to bowling in scorching heat of 3 PM. It was a unanimous decision to bowl to which I was taken by surprise, coz in the meetings before these matches I had suggested that we bowl first if we win the toss coz our strength was bowling, to which most of the players did not agree and here in finals it all changed probably due to the match played earlier, but I knew at that very moment that we were heading in right direction. Tejas and Vineet bowled awesomely and to some extent the Remedy players got their strategy all wrong. They started blocking every other ball and the run rate was so low that all the audience would have surely yawned at least once. That did surprise the Vikings and at that very moment we new we had a very good chance as they had probably got it all wrong. In the second half of Remedy innings Hrishikesh Deshmukh had other plans, he put his foot across and hit me for a couple of boundaries. Our fielding had dipped a bit probably due to fatigue & heat and Hrishikesh took full advantage of it to take Remedy to a respectable total. Our chase was quite brilliant with Aditya and Vineet creating frustration in the opposition camp as they did not loose their wickets easily and managed to keep the scoreboard ticking. A couple of wickets here and there and I had to go out to make 32 runs in 4 overs. It was some unknown guy bowling to me and he bowled it right at places where I wanted him to. Anyone who has seen me play would never like to pitch the ball back of length and outstide offstump, he would have to surely fetch the ball from the square boundary unless he has a sweeper or wide third man. I scored a couple of boundaries of him and we had got the momentum going our way. I must admit that we had put ourselves in such situation coz 32 runs in four overs is also a daunting task. We had to finally get 17 runs of the last 2 overs, which we achieved with 4 balls to spare. This was followed by a victory dance with even Shubhangi joining in. It was truly one of the most memorable day for us.

Vikings haven’t lost a single match since 4 years and yes we had lived to expectations once again. We had managed to weigh our strengths perfectly. The roles and responsibilities were taken up willingly, and yes the last two weeks of practising early mornings at 7 AM University ground was amazing. The commitment to work late nights and still be available for practise, the decision of changing the timings from evenings to morning......all paid off...... I remember one practise session in which we had even practised sledging. Though this time we didn’t require it but yes it did bring up a smile. Tejas’s statement “Howrya” would be remembered throughout my life. Durgesh , Prasad even you people played your roles to perfection. The enthusiasm was never lost. The support staff of Ashish Pathak, Pradeep Bagul and Ashish Modak was amazing.

Thanks everyone to give me these moments. The “Gibocche” moments still linger onto my mind. I look at those moments to derive motivation and inspiration whenever I am low. I have written all this so that I just don’t forget even the minutest of things.

Your feedback is really important and I am looking forward to it just before I write something on the missing third one . Also do add in if I have missed onto something.
........Baks.........

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.

My First Internal Tournament

Dated: 02-June-2007 Time: 11:35 AM

I have been thinking of writing something for quite some time now, but couldn't due to hectic work life, practice sessions and weekend matches. So finally, here I am trying to pen down some of the best lived moments of my life. This is totally dedicated to SMS a business unit with a difference. One cannot just take away the energy and enthusiasm from SMS, be it work, cultural activities, team events or sports, the enthusiasm never dies.

Its been about 2 years that I am associated with SMS. So much in these years that its better that i put it in writing else I have the fear of forgetting. To start with the first thing that I would like to talk about is BMC Internal Cricket. I am quite sure that SMS now are known as the best contenders for internals, be it cricket or any other sport. Individually the skill-sets might not be outstanding but when SMS plays as a team, it's a complete different story. The respect that each individual has for others is phenomenal. Consider this, BMCI Cricket champions for 4 years in a row, TT team being in the top two till date, about 5 players playing for BMCI football team, enthusiastic organizers, active participants in every activity and what not.


Cricket is the most followed sport in BMC India and in the last four years, I had the privilege to play the finals of all four internal tourneys first as an opponent of SMS in the finals and then to play for SMS for a long time. In the first year everything was new. SMS then was known as bunch of enthusiastic cricketers lead by Nitin Rathod. He was not a regular in BMCI External Cricket team, but has played a couple of matches. I remember a BMC match against Infosys where BMC had lost 4 wickets for 20 runs, chasing a target of 136 in 25 overs. It was a herculean task to chase that score against a decent Infosys attack. Nitin Rathod joined Rohit Dubey to nearly snatch a victory against the Inter IT champions. That spoke a lot about the attitude of this guy Nitin Rathod...... He has still the same enthusiasm an amazing understanding of the game, great leadership qualities and above all the respect he carries. SMS always played as a team, never ever in the last four years have i seen a single fight. Everyone was treated with utmost respect even though he might not have the knowledge or skills for cricket, and I was really impressed.

So coming back to the 1st Internal Cricket tournament. Personally for me, I enjoyed playing cricket with Devender Lamba and Braj, two characters from DSM who are still special. It was Devender who had batted superbly in the matches before the final, he had single handedly put DSM in finals with most of the DSM players not available as they were playing external tournament at the same time. I was in DSM team then, playing the finals against SMS. DSM was going great in the finals with Sunil Patil scoring runs in plenty, but suddenly the brakes were put-on by the sms'ians with a couple of run outs and DSM was out of steam. I remember Abhijit Belambe taking a superb catch behind the wicket. The chase for SMS was not that easy but SMS made it comfortably in the end. The enthusiasm was the difference between the two sides and it was clearly evident then that SMS had put a lot of hard work in fielding and they had won just because of it............