This is the story of the one-of-a-kind Paddu,
He is a bhaiyya (brother), uncle and even some peoples daddu (grandpa),
"I telll youuu", is his common starting line,
And he ends abruptly with "All that is fineeeeee".
Paddu takes to cricket like a fish to water,
When he bats, he makes fielders totter.
When he bowls he is very mean,
On extras and loose balls he is not very keen.
But when he fields, Paddu is at his best,
He makes every catch looks like a test,
When the ball flies to him he is in a rankle,
Sometimes falling over and feigning a broken ankle!
But he plays the game like a gentleman,
Strong, upright, sober and proud,
He frowns at players sledging,
While kicking the ball into the crowd.
If you're looking for a new phone, new jeans or even a house,
He is the man to see,
'Cause Paddu knows every discount in town,
Even the one's in Johor B!
Paddu was famously tipped to take over the India coaching job,
Until along came Gary Kirsten from the South Afrcian faction,
Instead he now just focuses on Shiv,
His speed, his loop, his spin - heck his whole bowling action
oh but no story of him is complete ever
without a mention of white boy rafa,
nothing the polska does is ever wrong,
not even if he played cricket in a lil orange sarong
That of course keeps lil almost-there-esh sad,
try as he does, paddu refuses to play dad :(
So this is the story of our dear Sir Paddu,
"A gem of a gentleman" he is without a doubt,
The team would not be so talented or entertaining without him,
Here's to wishing he keeps playing till he's a 100 not out!
PS: This is jointly penned by Shivvy and Ganji (From here on, we shall refer to ourselves collectively as Shitin - Shiv + Nitin... just for fun!).
PPS: We take joint responsibility of all that has been said or implied. This is all done in good humor while hoping that this will not influence team selection, batting positions, Paddu's mood, team morale and especially fielding positions.
Thanking you in kind anticipation of your esteemed comments.
With Regards,
Shitin
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
P&G vs SMU - Washed out but not washed up
The game against SMU may have been washed out, but there were some solid positives coming out of it.... and not all of them were cricket related...
1. Sudoku played a solid opening innings scoring 25 odd in good time (before losing his patience..... his quotable quote when he walked back to the pavillion was "the ball was there... but just didn't get it in the middle of the bat"). Well he may not provide blinding insights to how he got out, but this guy will give us some solid starts this year (Shiv - note how I'm being unselfish on this blog!)
2. Sriram got stuck in. Some good trademark pull shots. He was not out on 25 odd. The SMU fielders seemed keen on getting him back to form, but you always need some luck when you're having a bad run (God - please note).
3. We discovered that Sriram is not a poet. For some strange reason he felt that "ROCK" and "CONTINUE" rhymed (ok - may not be these exact words, but something as absurd as that).
4. We also discovered that Nitin Goel is witty. To Sriram's failed quest as a poet, Mr. Goel quipped - "of course they rhyme... if you pronounce them incorrectly". There was another quotable quote from him directed at me - "Ganji - this must be the longest you've had your pads on" (when I was padded up and watching Sriram and Bakir murder the bowling).
Probably missed 10 points, but the entertainment made up for it.
Watch this space for an Ode to Paddu (to be jointly penned by Ganji and Shivvy... coming soon)
1. Sudoku played a solid opening innings scoring 25 odd in good time (before losing his patience..... his quotable quote when he walked back to the pavillion was "the ball was there... but just didn't get it in the middle of the bat"). Well he may not provide blinding insights to how he got out, but this guy will give us some solid starts this year (Shiv - note how I'm being unselfish on this blog!)
2. Sriram got stuck in. Some good trademark pull shots. He was not out on 25 odd. The SMU fielders seemed keen on getting him back to form, but you always need some luck when you're having a bad run (God - please note).
3. We discovered that Sriram is not a poet. For some strange reason he felt that "ROCK" and "CONTINUE" rhymed (ok - may not be these exact words, but something as absurd as that).
4. We also discovered that Nitin Goel is witty. To Sriram's failed quest as a poet, Mr. Goel quipped - "of course they rhyme... if you pronounce them incorrectly". There was another quotable quote from him directed at me - "Ganji - this must be the longest you've had your pads on" (when I was padded up and watching Sriram and Bakir murder the bowling).
Probably missed 10 points, but the entertainment made up for it.
Watch this space for an Ode to Paddu (to be jointly penned by Ganji and Shivvy... coming soon)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
the intent of this ...
i guess is to wax eloquent about Shivvys fantastic patience while batting and his wristy Warne-like leg spin...
A really really long time in the past,
when a young man name Shiv, from a high Bengali caste,
set his eyes on a gentleman's sport called cricket,
He said this is wicked,
A slow, lazy sport at long last!
So he picked up new gloves, pads and a bat,
His coach taught him to play back to the bowler with a pat,
But being a hot blooded Bong boy,
He looked at the ball as a toy,
And opted to whack it over the ropes and say... like that!
And then he committed a big sin,
One fine day, he picked a ball and said i'll spin,
He gave it a little tweak,
The turn was so very weak,
That the captain put his bowling in the bin.
So here's to you my dear friend Shiv,
I hope you will, this poem forgive,
'Cause you know I just finished what you started,
And left incomplete and departed,
So my message to you is - Live and let live!! :)
A really really long time in the past,
when a young man name Shiv, from a high Bengali caste,
set his eyes on a gentleman's sport called cricket,
He said this is wicked,
A slow, lazy sport at long last!
So he picked up new gloves, pads and a bat,
His coach taught him to play back to the bowler with a pat,
But being a hot blooded Bong boy,
He looked at the ball as a toy,
And opted to whack it over the ropes and say... like that!
And then he committed a big sin,
One fine day, he picked a ball and said i'll spin,
He gave it a little tweak,
The turn was so very weak,
That the captain put his bowling in the bin.
So here's to you my dear friend Shiv,
I hope you will, this poem forgive,
'Cause you know I just finished what you started,
And left incomplete and departed,
So my message to you is - Live and let live!! :)
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
ode to bunjeee
Note: *** All references to people living or in hibernation are purely coincidental***
There once was a lad, lets call him ‘king-kong bunjee’
Whose childhood dream was to play in the Ranji
A quick description of the man,
So you can recognize him, now that you’re a fan
Am imposing figure, so big and tall
You would think that he will wallop the ball,
Others would whisper ‘he must bowl fast’
And batsmen will quiver, as the ball zooms past,
With such great things on his mind,
Set out Bunjee, our hero, his destiny to find..
He arrived in Singapore, of all places, to pursue his dream
Ended up trying out for none other than P&Gs cricket team
The first few games, they put down to luck
After all it was only 8 on-the-trot ducks,
Well, to cut the story short, there-on, it was all down hill
And trust me, to go down from there required quite a skill!
Bakir was encouraging, ‘No worries mate, Im sure u’ll bowl well’
Paddu said, ‘Go for it man, bowl a murderous spell!’
And true it was, Bunjee had them scurrying, the fielders I mean,
His pitiful bowling, matched only by Bakirs anguished scream!
His fielding was legendary, his movement so quick,
Oops, this is isn’t about me, I almost forgot this is Bunjees limerick
Oh, then, that leaves wicket keeping for the last,
Lets just say, the last time he tried that, his back was in a cast
So this is a story of Bunjee, a cricketer to be?
Sure! A lifetime from now, maybe even three,
He can’t play cricket, but don’t put him on trial,
Cos what he lacks in ability he makes up in denial!
There once was a lad, lets call him ‘king-kong bunjee’
Whose childhood dream was to play in the Ranji
A quick description of the man,
So you can recognize him, now that you’re a fan
Am imposing figure, so big and tall
You would think that he will wallop the ball,
Others would whisper ‘he must bowl fast’
And batsmen will quiver, as the ball zooms past,
With such great things on his mind,
Set out Bunjee, our hero, his destiny to find..
He arrived in Singapore, of all places, to pursue his dream
Ended up trying out for none other than P&Gs cricket team
The first few games, they put down to luck
After all it was only 8 on-the-trot ducks,
Well, to cut the story short, there-on, it was all down hill
And trust me, to go down from there required quite a skill!
Bakir was encouraging, ‘No worries mate, Im sure u’ll bowl well’
Paddu said, ‘Go for it man, bowl a murderous spell!’
And true it was, Bunjee had them scurrying, the fielders I mean,
His pitiful bowling, matched only by Bakirs anguished scream!
His fielding was legendary, his movement so quick,
Oops, this is isn’t about me, I almost forgot this is Bunjees limerick
Oh, then, that leaves wicket keeping for the last,
Lets just say, the last time he tried that, his back was in a cast
So this is a story of Bunjee, a cricketer to be?
Sure! A lifetime from now, maybe even three,
He can’t play cricket, but don’t put him on trial,
Cos what he lacks in ability he makes up in denial!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
intellectualisation galore
so, with an opportunity like this , i couldnt resist it :)
What worked in the match:
a) Bakirs/Paddu/Nitin bowling
b) Swapps/Manish's batting
that was pretty much it.. we got brilliant in patches and thats what pulled us through - great for stories that you want to tell your grandson, but not really something that signals 'champions' - it reminds me of the indian team 8 years ago - brilliant on thier day, perenially slotted as the dark horses..
None of this takes away from what was a brilliant effort from the guys above.. but.. post the hi-fives and chest thumping its given me a lot to think about...
a) Why do we let teams slip just when we are on top?
b) Why cant we just stay calm and not scream at each other? (fine, i am exagerating this one a wee bit)
c) Why cant we let the captain do his job?
some of these are intertwined questions, and have answers far above my mere division 4 understanding... but ill put down 5 things we should do from now on..
What worked in the match:
a) Bakirs/Paddu/Nitin bowling
b) Swapps/Manish's batting
that was pretty much it.. we got brilliant in patches and thats what pulled us through - great for stories that you want to tell your grandson, but not really something that signals 'champions' - it reminds me of the indian team 8 years ago - brilliant on thier day, perenially slotted as the dark horses..
None of this takes away from what was a brilliant effort from the guys above.. but.. post the hi-fives and chest thumping its given me a lot to think about...
a) Why do we let teams slip just when we are on top?
b) Why cant we just stay calm and not scream at each other? (fine, i am exagerating this one a wee bit)
c) Why cant we let the captain do his job?
some of these are intertwined questions, and have answers far above my mere division 4 understanding... but ill put down 5 things we should do from now on..
- The captain decides the field, if you as a bowler dont like it, talk to him after the match. If you feel strongly, talk to him once, thats all. As a fieldsman, if the cap tells u to stay somewhere - stay there - you may be right, but back ur captain up for now
- If things start to slip, lets take a min and think, far too often we let things slide and dont think about what is going wrong. This time as well, between the 25/3 and 98/7, we got walloped purely because we didnt keep the hitter off strike.
- A little similar to 3, i dont think we are thinking enough about how to play the batsman, who is the guy you want to give a single to? who is the guy you want hitting you? does the guy who is sweeping look like he will hit to cover? Who is our best bowler when you need to get out a belter?
- On the batting order, Paddu shouldnt be opening, we have seen time and again, for this team, a fast start is useless if we crack at no. 5/6. We need Paddu to be at 5.
- We need some1 to step up to open.. My call is Sriram and Sudhakar (Esh when he is around). Ganji needs to go at a time when the ball doesnt swing (umm maybe 3/6?). Maybe see if Ashwin can open? If sriram isnt there, id see if venky can open, he has the most awesome long hits!
the second match... authored by bakir!
This one will go down in our history!.....for those who weren’t there, I can only say unlucky you. P&G won by 1 run in a match which had more ups & downs then a roller-coaster ride. A match that put our spirits to the test…we were pushed to the wall more than a couple of times in the match and we fought back…oh boy did we fight back!! This is no individual’s victory, no one turning point in the match..….this one was by the team, for the team! Proud of you Guys…Great Win!
Early 8am match at IA and lacking insight about this ground, I chose to Bat after winning the toss. A decision that could have easily been fatal! The ground looked good but due to the heavy rains over the week, it had lush grass and still holding more water than I thought. The ball would just not travel and we would have easily lost at least 8-10 boundaries through the match, in fact we only had sixes in our innings not a single four!
Emerio Strikes: We started off probably worse than ever, we were 25/5 off 12 ovrs with Paddu, Sriram, Shiv, myself & Ashwin back in the hut with not much to show against our names. And while Emerio thought they have pulled off this match, Swapnil & Manish had other thoughts.
P&G fights back: They got going with one objective - last the entire 35 overs and believe me that looked far far away. The bowlers and fielders were on-top and we were pushed to the wall with 5 wickets down. Over by over they built a partnership, revised our target down to 130-150 given the situation and the ground conditions. Their partnership started looking promising but we never thought we would pull-off such a big come back. They stuck to their job, fought hard, resisted the temptation to hit that would have come atleast a 100 times and got us to the 27th over ….YES THE 27TH OVER without losing anymore wickets. Swapnil led from the front with a 49 but man that was the best innings of his life (worth a 100 any day) and Manish partnered him like a wall with 25-30 odd. Manish got out first while Swapnil carried on to hit a few big sixes. Venkat partnered him and scored a 20 odd very very quickly with a few big shots. We also saw some classic flicks from Usman and lasted the full 35 overs setting a target of 145 runs. What a BIG BIG fight back, Swapnil-Manish-Venkat & even Usman showed huge character, grit and courage to give us a fighting chance with the ball. Simply Amazing!!
Shiv took up the challenge to keep wickets as Manish was tired due to the long knock. Now we had 145 runs on the board and needed some inspired bowling and fielding to get us into the middle order of Emerio quickly. Especially getting Emerio’s captain, Sagar out who had scored 219 in 59 balls in a 20:20 match.
P&G Strikes: Nitin Goel and Shyam did exactly that. Nitin took 3 wickets in his first 3 overs with two of those caught by Shyam at mid-wicket and covers. Great catches given the situation and they also got Sagar back in the dressing room. We had tasted blood (sorry for the veggie’s) getting into Emerio’s middle order with only 25 runs on the board.
Emerio fights back: Dream start by Nitin but just then Emerio came back hard, hitting some boundaries in the following 3-4 overs.
P&G Strikes again: Then came in Mr. Reliable (Paddu) with his accurate, tactical bowling. Ashwin got a wicket & then Paddu got us another courtesy a great catch by Sriram running behind and judging it to perfection. We had a real chance now with 70 odd runs needed and 5 wickets in hand but a lot of overs left.
The struggle continues: Emerio continued on the offensive and the next two put on another defying partnership taking Emerio across the 100 mark. We were getting desperate & and so I came in to bowl J so I can’t blame anyone else and it clicked, we got a break-through. But again Emerio fought back, on the offensive scored a quick 30-odd and we were now facing defeat again. And then what….Paddu strikes back, knocking-out Emerio’s backbone who had scored a half-century. But by now they only needed 5 runs to win.
Setting the stage: With so many options and everyone eager to bowl, I took the chance to bowl myself. Emerio needed 5 runs of 14 ovrs with three wickets in hand. My first over was trying, the batsman missed 3-4 balls but no break-through. They now needed 4 runs of 13 overs. I asked Paddu, just get through an over give me a chance next over but he did more than that…..struck with another wicket. Emerio now needed 2 runs of 12 ovrs with two wickets in hand. We were attacking through the match but now was the time to frighten the batsman…it was all about putting pressure and making them nervous else two runs in 12 ovrs was a walk in the park. All fielders were in, some looking right into the eyes of the batsman at covers, mid-wicket and Shiv was keeping upto the stumps.
The Final Countdown: First ball and booooomm, clean bowled. Now everyone knew we were not letting this match go! New batsman comes in, 11th man wearing a helmet…we were going to kill him J. Shiv told him, probably something's hanging from your helmet and he took a min to fix it, making him more nervous…great job Shiv J. This guy was covering his stumps completely and the next two balls were a swing and miss outside off-stump. He changed guard (I don’t know whyJ) and opened up the stumps. I changed the field and brought in a short fine leg and this was the chance to go for a straight one. Next ball, straight Yorker on the middle stump and CLEAN BOWLED!!!! Wheweeeeeee…Victory!!! Oh we were on top of this world. What a fight back…all through the match…a complete team effort!!! An unforgettable match for everyone who witnessed it…
Now, we obviously need to get our act right…the first couple of matches haven’t exactly been as we would like. So lets meet at the nets, get some knocks, practice hard and talk the plan for the next match against SMU Lions…C u there…
Early 8am match at IA and lacking insight about this ground, I chose to Bat after winning the toss. A decision that could have easily been fatal! The ground looked good but due to the heavy rains over the week, it had lush grass and still holding more water than I thought. The ball would just not travel and we would have easily lost at least 8-10 boundaries through the match, in fact we only had sixes in our innings not a single four!
Emerio Strikes: We started off probably worse than ever, we were 25/5 off 12 ovrs with Paddu, Sriram, Shiv, myself & Ashwin back in the hut with not much to show against our names. And while Emerio thought they have pulled off this match, Swapnil & Manish had other thoughts.
P&G fights back: They got going with one objective - last the entire 35 overs and believe me that looked far far away. The bowlers and fielders were on-top and we were pushed to the wall with 5 wickets down. Over by over they built a partnership, revised our target down to 130-150 given the situation and the ground conditions. Their partnership started looking promising but we never thought we would pull-off such a big come back. They stuck to their job, fought hard, resisted the temptation to hit that would have come atleast a 100 times and got us to the 27th over ….YES THE 27TH OVER without losing anymore wickets. Swapnil led from the front with a 49 but man that was the best innings of his life (worth a 100 any day) and Manish partnered him like a wall with 25-30 odd. Manish got out first while Swapnil carried on to hit a few big sixes. Venkat partnered him and scored a 20 odd very very quickly with a few big shots. We also saw some classic flicks from Usman and lasted the full 35 overs setting a target of 145 runs. What a BIG BIG fight back, Swapnil-Manish-Venkat & even Usman showed huge character, grit and courage to give us a fighting chance with the ball. Simply Amazing!!
Shiv took up the challenge to keep wickets as Manish was tired due to the long knock. Now we had 145 runs on the board and needed some inspired bowling and fielding to get us into the middle order of Emerio quickly. Especially getting Emerio’s captain, Sagar out who had scored 219 in 59 balls in a 20:20 match.
P&G Strikes: Nitin Goel and Shyam did exactly that. Nitin took 3 wickets in his first 3 overs with two of those caught by Shyam at mid-wicket and covers. Great catches given the situation and they also got Sagar back in the dressing room. We had tasted blood (sorry for the veggie’s) getting into Emerio’s middle order with only 25 runs on the board.
Emerio fights back: Dream start by Nitin but just then Emerio came back hard, hitting some boundaries in the following 3-4 overs.
P&G Strikes again: Then came in Mr. Reliable (Paddu) with his accurate, tactical bowling. Ashwin got a wicket & then Paddu got us another courtesy a great catch by Sriram running behind and judging it to perfection. We had a real chance now with 70 odd runs needed and 5 wickets in hand but a lot of overs left.
The struggle continues: Emerio continued on the offensive and the next two put on another defying partnership taking Emerio across the 100 mark. We were getting desperate & and so I came in to bowl J so I can’t blame anyone else and it clicked, we got a break-through. But again Emerio fought back, on the offensive scored a quick 30-odd and we were now facing defeat again. And then what….Paddu strikes back, knocking-out Emerio’s backbone who had scored a half-century. But by now they only needed 5 runs to win.
Setting the stage: With so many options and everyone eager to bowl, I took the chance to bowl myself. Emerio needed 5 runs of 14 ovrs with three wickets in hand. My first over was trying, the batsman missed 3-4 balls but no break-through. They now needed 4 runs of 13 overs. I asked Paddu, just get through an over give me a chance next over but he did more than that…..struck with another wicket. Emerio now needed 2 runs of 12 ovrs with two wickets in hand. We were attacking through the match but now was the time to frighten the batsman…it was all about putting pressure and making them nervous else two runs in 12 ovrs was a walk in the park. All fielders were in, some looking right into the eyes of the batsman at covers, mid-wicket and Shiv was keeping upto the stumps.
The Final Countdown: First ball and booooomm, clean bowled. Now everyone knew we were not letting this match go! New batsman comes in, 11th man wearing a helmet…we were going to kill him J. Shiv told him, probably something's hanging from your helmet and he took a min to fix it, making him more nervous…great job Shiv J. This guy was covering his stumps completely and the next two balls were a swing and miss outside off-stump. He changed guard (I don’t know whyJ) and opened up the stumps. I changed the field and brought in a short fine leg and this was the chance to go for a straight one. Next ball, straight Yorker on the middle stump and CLEAN BOWLED!!!! Wheweeeeeee…Victory!!! Oh we were on top of this world. What a fight back…all through the match…a complete team effort!!! An unforgettable match for everyone who witnessed it…
Now, we obviously need to get our act right…the first couple of matches haven’t exactly been as we would like. So lets meet at the nets, get some knocks, practice hard and talk the plan for the next match against SMU Lions…C u there…
Friday, March 14, 2008
The background
Ok - here's the deal. The P&G Singapore cricket team has come a long way! This is our 4th year in existence and we've taken on many different faces.
To start with, we had Sriram as our first captain. In a moment of enthusiasm, Sriram and I registered a P&G team in Division 3 (that was the bottom division then) of the Singapore Cricket League. We ended the year with an average of 8 players on the field and a position that was well south of mid-table! But we enjoyed the year. Some highlights... (a) Anoopsy Daisy's champion opening bowling, (b) Sumeet Mehta's left arm quicks, (c) 2 back to back games won (the only 2 games we won all season) driven by a couple of interns, (d) Ambrish Jain getting run out for 0 without facing a single ball and giving Naresh Sharma a mouthful for that! (e) Mark Stan's first ball of the innings six and his express 95 which I think was in the same game, (f) Manish - the guy who ended the year with the highest average, but couldn't hold a catch to save his life.
After a bottom table end to the season and many stalwarts succumbing to injuries, other priorities or overseas assignments, the following year we weren't able to register a P&G team. But a bunch of us (Sriram, me, Shivvy etc) played with Kaybee. I hated that season - largely coz I didn't score anything (as Shivvy once said - I scored fewer runs than there are kms between Newton and Novena) but also because I generally didn't like the team dynamic... couple of talented guys, but the rest were duds (which is not the problem in itself) who acted like they were good enough to play for Australia or something (therein lied the problem). Trudged through that season again in Div 3 with results not much better than the previous year.
Then year 3. Resurgence of the team. New blood came in from the P&G India team. We went from a Work Life Balance Philosophy to being Paddu's boot camp and in a general state of constant panic and over intellectualization. I don't mean any of this in a bad way. In fact, it worked out quite well for us. We finished 4th out of 20 teams and this got us promoted to Div 3 (whether that's a good thing or bad, only time will tell), won us the Knock out tournament. So it was quite a stellar year. Essentially belonged to Bakir (for me - undoubtedly the best batsman I've seen in Singapore so far), Paddu (the man is a machine! seriously impressive), Nitin Goel/Swappy/Venkat (all bowled their hearts out). Apart from a bit of a slump at the end of the season, we became an unbeatable outfit.
Now year 4. As a lung opener, we won a 20-20 tournament (Bakir ruled again). We're in Div 3 in the league. Life is more competitive. We just got plundered by Indi CC in our first game of the season. The bowling was rusty (pretty much everyone went for 7 an over in a 35 over game). The batting was brittle. All in all, an unimpressive display from us. What gives me heart though is that it wasn't so much that they beat us as much as us beating ourselves. So if we play to the level we did last year, there's no reason we can't get to the top 3 in Div 3. Well - time will tell.
As I write this, the boys should be playing our 2nd league game against Emerio. I'm bummed I couldn't play this one. Work kept me in Manila! But looking forward to good news.
Now I started off this blog to spark more intellectual debate and banter. Once in a while we might review a game. Shivvy - I'll give you author rights. Anyone else who feels like penning blog entries, let me know. I'll add you in as an author. Else you can always just leave comments.
To start with, we had Sriram as our first captain. In a moment of enthusiasm, Sriram and I registered a P&G team in Division 3 (that was the bottom division then) of the Singapore Cricket League. We ended the year with an average of 8 players on the field and a position that was well south of mid-table! But we enjoyed the year. Some highlights... (a) Anoopsy Daisy's champion opening bowling, (b) Sumeet Mehta's left arm quicks, (c) 2 back to back games won (the only 2 games we won all season) driven by a couple of interns, (d) Ambrish Jain getting run out for 0 without facing a single ball and giving Naresh Sharma a mouthful for that! (e) Mark Stan's first ball of the innings six and his express 95 which I think was in the same game, (f) Manish - the guy who ended the year with the highest average, but couldn't hold a catch to save his life.
After a bottom table end to the season and many stalwarts succumbing to injuries, other priorities or overseas assignments, the following year we weren't able to register a P&G team. But a bunch of us (Sriram, me, Shivvy etc) played with Kaybee. I hated that season - largely coz I didn't score anything (as Shivvy once said - I scored fewer runs than there are kms between Newton and Novena) but also because I generally didn't like the team dynamic... couple of talented guys, but the rest were duds (which is not the problem in itself) who acted like they were good enough to play for Australia or something (therein lied the problem). Trudged through that season again in Div 3 with results not much better than the previous year.
Then year 3. Resurgence of the team. New blood came in from the P&G India team. We went from a Work Life Balance Philosophy to being Paddu's boot camp and in a general state of constant panic and over intellectualization. I don't mean any of this in a bad way. In fact, it worked out quite well for us. We finished 4th out of 20 teams and this got us promoted to Div 3 (whether that's a good thing or bad, only time will tell), won us the Knock out tournament. So it was quite a stellar year. Essentially belonged to Bakir (for me - undoubtedly the best batsman I've seen in Singapore so far), Paddu (the man is a machine! seriously impressive), Nitin Goel/Swappy/Venkat (all bowled their hearts out). Apart from a bit of a slump at the end of the season, we became an unbeatable outfit.
Now year 4. As a lung opener, we won a 20-20 tournament (Bakir ruled again). We're in Div 3 in the league. Life is more competitive. We just got plundered by Indi CC in our first game of the season. The bowling was rusty (pretty much everyone went for 7 an over in a 35 over game). The batting was brittle. All in all, an unimpressive display from us. What gives me heart though is that it wasn't so much that they beat us as much as us beating ourselves. So if we play to the level we did last year, there's no reason we can't get to the top 3 in Div 3. Well - time will tell.
As I write this, the boys should be playing our 2nd league game against Emerio. I'm bummed I couldn't play this one. Work kept me in Manila! But looking forward to good news.
Now I started off this blog to spark more intellectual debate and banter. Once in a while we might review a game. Shivvy - I'll give you author rights. Anyone else who feels like penning blog entries, let me know. I'll add you in as an author. Else you can always just leave comments.
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