This last week has been an memorable journey in my cricket career. I have been playing this game for the last 20 years but winning the prestigious Inter Tata tournament and to lift the trophy as captain ( was captain for one of the match out of 5 played) was a completely different high. This was an incredible win and the feeling as not yet sunk in yet. I had not played much cricket in last 2 years since Kyra was born and was not sure if i was physically and mentally fit to play. So this season was like starting as a new comer. But it was the team who supported me throughout this season.
I want specially thank Pritam, captain of our team and other seniors Ameya, Amar,Kiran, Prasad,Sankara, Mayank who were pillars of support throughout the tournament. Not to forget my office team who adjusted based on my availability. But then i can't thank Deepa( my wife) enough who supported me to play again and took care of my baby duties during this week..
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| Pritam and me receiving the Winner Trophy |
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| Individual Trophy |
Our Journey:
15 different team from all India from various Tata companies had come to Mumbai to play this tournament. We had to play 5 consecutive days and also manage our office work post the match.
Match 1 : TCS vs Trent
We lost the toss and were put into bat. We started slowly but then with great batting effort from Rahul Amonkar - 45(38), Manish Telge 33(32) and quickfire 47 (14) by Tandel , we made 182/4 in 20 overs. We bowled out Trent on 117 winning by 65 runs. Everyone bowled well but Pritam was pick of the bowlers with picking up figures of 4-1-6-4 . I bowled well with figures of 4-1-15-1. The MoM was Pinkesh Tandel
Match 2: TCS vs Tata International
We won the toss and elected to bat. Our openers could not keep the momentum and there were few runouts which put additional pressure. Nikhil Kotain 48(41) guided the innings and well supported by Pritam 20(10) which helped us to put up an score of 143/8. Anurag then finished the top order with figures of 4-0-15-4 well supported by Ali 4-0-32-3 and me 4-0-18-2. We bowled them out for 90 winning by 53 runs. Anurag was awarded the MoM.
Match 3- TCS vs Tata Motors Jamshedpur
Now since only 1 team from each group moves to the semis, this was an virtual quarter final and must win match for us. Also since Pritam was injured i was entrusted the task to captain the team. Huge responsibility and additional pressure in a must win match to move to the semis.Our opener Prasad M 47(37) played a good innings and then with Pinesh another quick fire 45(20) in the end helped us reach a score of 149/4. Anurag then again blasted through the top order with figures of 4-0-18-3 and again supported by another pacer Jairam 4-0-23-4 who was brought in place of Pritam. I bowled well with figures of 3-0-20-1. We bowled them out for 122 winning by 27 runs. Pinkesh was again awareded the MoM.
Match 4 - Semi Final - TCS vs TML Drive lines
Pritam was fit to play and looking at the green Elf vengserkar wicket which would support fast bowlers, with an heavy heart i discussed with Pritam and decided to sit out on this match. We lost the toss and put into bat. It was a good toss to lose. The openers Rahul Amonkar 39 (28) & Prasad 85 (50) demolished the oposition bowling and then Pinkesh played another cameo of 39 (13) to provide an mammoth target of 205/3 to chase. Vikrant Khot came to the party bowling really well 4-1-20-2 and again Ali spinning his way 4-0-18-3 restricted the oppostion to 135/7 winning by 70 runs securing our place in the finals. Prasad was the MoM for a brilliant knock of 85.
Match 5- Finals - TCS v Titan
We had lots of discussion on the team composition and then it was decided to bring me back into the team. The match was on Karnataka pitch, Cross maidan, the same ground where we had lost the finals for same tournament few years back. Also we had lost this tournament twice in finals in last 12 years and we were winner trophy less for the last 4 years now.We felt like South African team, chokers who won all league matches and always lost in semis or finals. We had to win this match. It was long due.
TCS won the toss and elected to bat first. With 50/4 in 10 overs , Rahul Amonkar steadied the innings with 26 ( 29) along with Ravi Banda 27 (24). Pritam steadied the middle overs with 16 (18) but then came our demolition man Pinkesh 35 (18) supported by Ali 11 (07) helped us reach a defendable score of 149/7.
Titan started the innings very well and had good opening partnership 67 runs in 9 overs. Then Ali spinned the opposition with figures of 4-1-12-3. I bowled decent and restricted the batsman in middle overs with figures of 3-0-30-0. Rahul Amonkar 1-0-3-0 bowled well but got injured and all got down to the last over which required 16 runs to win. Pritam was entrusted with the last over who finished with figures of 4-0-29-1. His last over details are
16 runs needed -1st Ball - 6 runs
10 runs needed -2nd ball - wicket
10 runs needed -3rd ball - 1 run
9 runs needed -4th ball - 4 runs
5 runs needed -5th ball - 2 runs
3 runs needed -6th ball - Dot
TCS won the match by 2 runs. This was a well fought but in the end team TCS was the deserved winner. We played consistently and improved with every game. Each team member contributed when it was needed and was great team performance. Pinkesh was awarded the Man of series trophy.
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| Winning Team |
Team - In whites only.
Standing (L-R) - Rahul Suryavanshi, Santosh Asbe, Ameya Vanjari, Pinkesh Tandel, Vikrant Khot, Amar Bhat, Anurag Singh, Saurabh Nikam, Ravi Banda, Prasad Mhadnak
Sitting ( L-R) - Apurva Sawle, Pritam Singh Mathura, Nikhil Kotain, Ali Azgar, Aman, Rahul Amonkar, Manish Telge, Roshan, Velraj
