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............
