If
you have been following my blogs regularly, then you might remember that I
always 'boast' about my strong faith in my abilities. Sports is one such
ability in me. So, it happened like this.Chakravyuh
at IMT is a massive sports event and some people can go to any extent just to
be a part of it. The preparations for the Chakravyuh begin a month before the
commencement of the event. The event begins to sprinkle the rays of its
grandeur days before its actual start. I could not be the part of Chakravyuh
'09 as I had been exchanged to France along with my other classmates. Groups
of 24-25 men and women form a team which would include players who will play
all sorts of sports. 10-15 teams are formed from IMT alone, with names ranging
from some serious ones like Kshatriyas, Maharathis and Titans to some as funny
as my own Desi Tammanchey Bidesi Bomb, Tapan Baba 24 chor and Lazy Bones. The
Kshatriyas and Maharathis supposedly being the 'best' teams of IMT. Now.
. .Considering my cricketing career at IMT (which has {touchwood} never seen a
downfall) I was pretty sure of being one of the most probable candidates among
those who would be selected for cricket in one of the 'best' teams of IMT. Most
expectedly Maharathi as they were the ones with whom I played most of my
matches, were my 'good' friends and on a few occasions stood out as a
match-winner for them too. But.
. . C'est
ma vie! If
all goes well then the learning for me would be minimal. The
team Maharathi (which was constituted without me) was one of the best
cricketing squad at Chakravyuh. They had all the essential ingredients of
bowlers, batsmen and fielders. Days,
weeks were receding hastily. Chakravyuh was approaching. My classmates who were
not participating in Chakravyuh were making plans for a 3-day trip on
Chakravyuh days and were persuading me to accompany them in case I am not
playing in the Chakravyuh.But
suddenly one day a Marketing batch student comes up to me and asks me if I am a
part of any team or not and if I would be willing to join his upcoming team
comprising of members comparatively 'new-to-sports'. I told him I need some
time to think about this. That
night, I lied down in my bed and thought something very unusual. I am calling
it unusual because I am finding it difficult to categorise it into good or evil.
I'll share those thoughts with you. I thought, if somehow I could manage to
give my best shot in the matches while playing for this team of less-regular
players then I could come into lime-light. But,
Cricket is a game which is seldom won single-handedly. Victory has to be a team
effort. The
next night I received a mail from my team captain. It said "the main
objective behind the formation of our team is to let all the team members
participate in at least one game." My heart sank. How could a team captain
put winning as a secondary objective???? How can the people who are never seen
playing anything emerge out of the blues as winners? It was then that I made a
solemn. The
Chakravyuh was now just 1 day away. Everybody was practising Cricket in the field.
Maharathi occupying the centre-most position and rightly so, after all, cricket
was their most victory-expected game. Our team needed the practice most. Some
players showed good touch with the ball and bat at the practice sessions. But
was that enough?? The
1st day of Chakravyuh had no sport for me to be a part of. Although I was
expecting to be a part of Tennis. The player for a particular sport in our team
was not decided on merit basis for sure but on the basis of number of other
games he plays. The lower this number the more are the chances of him to play
that sport. Anyways,
the 1st day of Chakravyuh was event-less. The next morning we had to play
cricket against the Kshatriyas. We
won the toss and decided to field first. Our bowlers did a fairly good job of
restricting them to 43 in 6 overs. But with less experienced side and
Kshatriyas' experienced bowling attack this target of 44 was not easy. I and
Vaibhav opened the innings and achieved the target in just 17 balls. We
reached the 2nd round of cricket in which we were to battle it out against the
favourites Maharathis whose team line up boasted of experience, strength,
cricket acumen and a great captain. We
again won the toss and decided to field first. This time our bowling was
treated badly by some great stroke play from the Maharathi batsmen who set up a
big target of 64 in 6 overs.This
time I and Amit opened the innings for our team. The target seemed distant at
first, but when both of us started dealing in boundaries and sixes we finished
the game with still 1 out of 6 overs to spare. So
what was it that defeated the favourites Maharathi?????? What
was it that Maharathis boasted of but we did not?????? I
think it was my learnings from the previous similar situations that I faced on the
cricket field when I played with most of the Maharathi team members. The
learnings from the matches in which I, supported by my fellow batsmen, took the
team out of a drowning situation. The learnings which probably Maharathi
lacked. After
beating the Maharathis we reached the 3rd round of Cricket, probably the
farthest our team reached in any sporting event. Though we lost to Amity in the
3rd round, in which they scored a gigantic 92 in 6 overs, even after giving a
tough fight to them. So,
C'est ma vie. . .oh my god!. . .i've started using this quote as my life's
slogan. But, now I can feel it within me that my learning paid well for me.
Alhough not well enough, but I could see the inexpressible feeling of triumph
and heavenly pleasure in the eyes of each and every member of my team after
that victory. Feels
awesome to be one of the reasons for that!!
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