Virender's Blog-2008

Top Contributors
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Yes since it is raining and the outfield is wet.
The rubber balls swings,skids and bounces.
Good for bowlers but nightmare for batsmen.
This weekend practice will be captured on camera.
 
Virender's Blog-2008

Looking forward for tomorrow's practice.
If everything happens according to plan;We can have a good practice.
Will capture bowling action of my teammate especially his back foot contact to show to Liz.
I will try to capture my batting video as well.Just for fun :cool
The bat used will be the customised bat used for batting practice in moonsoon.
It will be interesting to bat as the width of the bat is like the "Eye-In" type of bat made for practice.
Can't wait for the weekend to start.......... ::) :biggrin
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Enjoy the practice Virender. I must say, using a bat that thin would drive me mad - though if you got used to it, a full size bat would feel like a tennis racket :D
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Chapter 6- Team Meeting.
Finally the day came and while coming back to home from office.Captain called for a team meeting.
I requested captain to make it a close door meeting with less people as with most people it goes wayward.
So Myself,Captain-JK and senior player-Chandan arrived to a nearby bar at 19:00PM for drinks(treat for my wedding :mellow:)
Few issues were raised:
1) Practice wicket needs to be checked and modified as bowlers have a hard time countering the slope.For that the Club committee & groundsmen needs to be taken in confidence.
2) Practice balls to used with budget increased.
3) Net practice to be available from Tuesday to Sunday.This was suggested earlier by me and the captain has obliged to it :).As most of the players are office goers/businessmen practice on weekends will be helpful to them.
4) Every player will have to purchase his own bat as club will no longer purchase any bats.This will make sure the players will take care of their bats and maintain it accordingly.
5) Friendly matches will be organised more and possibly on sundays as office goers will be able to play
but since match wicket is not available in ground most of the times;few matches will be scheduled in mumbai.That needs to communicate to players and take them into confidence as travelling from thane to mumbai is a hazardous.
6) Chandan needs to take the coach/manager role and working on his batting and forget his medium pace.His fitness issue was raised but was of no use.
7) I strongly requested for a steady wicketkeeper in the team as we suffered a lot due to no stable keeper.One player-Mahadik has been identified to keeping but he is more interested in his medium bowling which has gone wayward but his fielding reflexes are good and at least to work on his keeping because no other player fits the bill.So Captain will be working to convince him as we require a stable wicketkeeper.
8) I am been looked upon to lead the team from the coming season with Chandan as coach and JK will be taking a back seat.I am OK with that but a bit reluctant as there are many old players of this club and I have shifted last season only.About Captaincy;I can lead them and have pretty good man management skills and can be a good motivator-This quality lacks in our captain and senior players.
So the players can be relaxed with me.Captain-JK tell me Don't be more of a disciplined type of player as this will be too much teething for the players".I replied "Living in old glory days and ignoring today's reality is not good for the future of budding players and development of club.Self discipline should come in a senior players with his years of cricketing and life experience.If I can change with that certainly all u guys can".This fact was accepted by him but I knew very well that making this realise to other players is an uphill task and only Captain & I can work on that.It will take time with eventually the end result will be fruitful(Hopefully-Fingers crossed).Secondly;To lead the team i would require a longer run and free hand in my selection and team strategy and loads of support with patience(this is not there in everybody).Given this terms now it is up to JK to understand and work on it.Otherwise I am contend to be a player in the team and play under anybody's captaincy.

By that time Hemant and Mahadik had arrived and i knew it will be long struggled meeting.So called my wife and informed her.

8) Batting lineup needs to be worked especially on the top three batting slot.One player-Hemant has been given the opportunity to bat alongwith me and for number 3 captain will decided later on.
9) Off-Season practice issue was raised and Captain acknowledged and appreciated my effort of continuing practice in moonsoon.He has pledge his support and will see that at least he is present for the practice.
Thus ended the meeting with hopes that at least some of the positive things are possible for the club.This Club has the potential to be the best but participation from individuals is required in terms of effort and dedication.I hope this coming season we are at least one step ahead compared to last season.

Well after that it was all drinks and jokes and time pass going.
All three; Chandan(Coach),JK(Captain),Hemant and Mahadik were engrossed in drinking and I was listening and listening with a lime soda(Thank god;I gave up drinking nearly 2 years back).Otherwise.....
Then came up old games and heavily drunk mahadik was at his best accusing JK for not supporting bowlers when they are tonked in matches.Even I supported that and JK was quietly listening.He knew that it is not possible for him to change.But on several occasion ;players during Open discussion has raised the same issue and i always supported JK.But today I felt he needs to change his attitude as the coming season is important for building up the team.He is a good captain but needs to be cool and rely on his instinct for decision making.Little bit of fingering from seniors and he is just shoots off which is not good for the players confidence and the overall teams moral is not building up.

We left from the bar at around 23:30PM with heavy rain adding to my misery.
I had to ride the scooter in the heavy rain to reach home to my wife waiting :mad: for me to have dinner together.
Well first let's see the difference in the coming weekend's practices.
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Chapter7- Weekend Practice & Match.
This weekend was good with most of the members turining up.
Saturday was easygoing with the limited bowling and batting.So we started at 7:00AM and finished by 8:30AM.
On Sunday; it was a hide and seek game with rain.Coming and gone and coming and going.
So we felt relaxed.
After a little bit of knocking;we decided to play practice match as it will good for I enjoyed this as this covers batting,bowling,fielding and running between wickets.
Even had to do a bit of wicketkeeping which was fun.
It was decided the highest score will opened the batting in the next inngs.
We had a good players to compete against each other.
The rule was simple that each batsmen will get to bat 2 overs and bowler 1 over and if the bowler takes a wicket then he will get fresh new over to continue.
i was numbered 2 in batting.With the soil wet ans the ball skiding fast it was diffcult to bat freely.So I took risky singles and then hit one four with a square cut and made 12 runs.
SO the players thought it was easy after they had seen me batting.But
i took 5 wickets and it was all curtains for the others.
We played second round but heavy rain spoiled our game and then we somehow finished the second round and went to the nearby tea stall for tea and left home.It was fun.
Looking forward to the next weekend for more fun.During off season it the spirit and bonding among team-mates that really matters.The cricketing part follows itself.
Yesterday the captain called for a meeting.Surpiringly he was wants to keep a low profile and let me keep the guys motivated and togther for the off season practice.
His appreciation really counts as last season he made my shifting to his club very smoothly without any hiccups.
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Wow another friday gone and looking forward to another exciting weekend practice.
So if only the practice days were more in a week.
Great time to catch up with teammates and have good time.
I am happy to see teammates responding positively to moonsoon practice.
Hopefully in coming weeks more of them will turn up.
I am happy that my captain supports my efforts and is co-operating.

One more good news is that today i will be installing my home PC for the first time alongwith music system,Webcam etc.
Would be great to catch up with friends,family and some of our SC's members as well.
So SC will be continued from home front as well.

Adios :)
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

"I had to ride the scooter in the heavy rain to reach home to my wife waiting" Virender what kind of Scooter do you ride? I used to have a Vespa PX125e it was brilliant it did 40,000 miles in just 4 years before it completely died!
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Dave,
The Scooter is Bajaj Chetak;nearly 15 years old.But still in excellent working condition.
Lot of people advised me to dump it but i find it diffcult as it is of greter emotional value and will be using it until it's completely broken down.

Added 34 minute(s) and 50 second(s) later...

Chapter8- Weekend Practice.
This time I reported late for pratice and the surpirse part was most of the teammates were present.They did pulled me up for comng late as i have the kit with me.
SO practice started with single wicket match.
I had a good bowling session and decent batting.In this single wicket fielding is also a bog factor blocking the singles and avoid overthrows.
We ended the practice within 1 hr and promised each other to come early tomorrow on sunday as well.
On Sunday I made sure to reach before time and complete my warm-up before everybody arrrives.Again rain played a spoilsport and especially when i was batting and heavy rain showers made it diffcult to bat and ended up scoring 0* in 2 overs.Everyone was laughing and as rain was playing hide and seek with us.The next batsmen also found the same problem to the extend that some of the batsmen could not hold to the bat and it slippped quiet few times.In the end i was having the last laugh.Bowling was much better and with challenging the batsmen to go over the top was a treat.I enjoyed to taunt the batsmen and bully them to hit the ball.
When the 2nd inngs came and with rain in between again batting was diffcult.So when i came last to bat the highest score was 11 runs.Judging by my last inngs peformance everyone were laid back and came close-in to block the singles.I also threw a point saying that i will be defending the 12 balls so whoever wants to take a nap can do so.
But then the first delivery i took a single and eerybody cameclose in to block the singles and joking and laughing was there as usual and the second ball was hit for a four above the cover region and within moments the fielding was spread and intense.
Everyone shouting to each other not to let virender score more than 11 runs.
The third delivery again for a straight boundary above the bowler's head.
So in three balls i scored 9 runs and everyone was sure that in remaining 9 balls it is a piece of cake.But i was also fooling around and lost my control and got out the next delivery itself.
Everybody was excited of my wicket.Because last time i was the highest scorer and wicket taker also.This weekend practice is really a great fun with slowly every player is coming to play.If more and more teammates come then we will start double wicket match among ourselves.Then it will cover:Batting,Bowling,Fielding and running between wickets.Also overthrows and back-up fielding is also taken into consideration.
Ended the weekend on a happy note.I don't think i must be laughing whole heartedly the whole week then in those two days during the practice.We have such variety of characters that playing becomes even more enjoyable.This is something the captain is looking forward too.
I hope my efforts will bring a change and the team moves forward to the coming season in a positive manner.

PS: Due to rains in between our games;photos were not clicked but will do next weekend.
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

It looks pretty much like a Vespa - I just googled it and had a look. My one seized up when I was a surfer, living in a tent for 6 months at the top of a cliff over looking the beach - what with all the salt sea air and mist and not using it that much it gradually dies and then the cruciform broke and that was it from then on.

Added 3 minute(s) and 50 second(s) later...

Sounds like your practice was a good laugh. Some of our games get like that (They're friendlies) the last one I played in was a bit like that along with some tension as we only one the game by 1 run as our captain was trying to force a draw (But we had other ideas)!
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Yes Dave :)
The weekend practice does gets interesting with slowly-by-slowly teammates making a point to come for practice.
When I started this concept one month back we were only three players dedicated to practice but thanks to the timely support of our captain which ensured that players are coming to practice and I am sure that slowly they will enjoy playing cricket in rain as we exprienced it on last sunday :)
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Chapter9- Weekend Practice.

As the waiting ended on saturday a good lot of 7 people turned out for practice.
Had a good hell of time batting,bowlig,fielding were perfectly ok with again scoring 12 runs in 12 balls and emergin the highest run scorer among the others.Also bowling worked fine.fielding is fine as due to rain and nuddy outfield not much can be expected one of the teammate fell down while trying to catch.
Surprisingly on sunday lot of more teammates poured in and there were atleast 14 in total the highest number present from last two months.
My efforts have started to show an interest in the others.I am dammm happy:)
The credit also goes to my Captain-JK.
One team member-Amol also came in;now this player has got the habit on getting into others nerves and is not popular among others.He is a big mouth and has not matured as a player and as aperson.He is well over 35 years of age.But a fool in himself no team spirit just goes bullying around and creating trouble.In one of the matches last season he was close to getting beaten up by one of our own teammates but got sved due to the others.Some people will never learn;I am sure this season also he will create trouble.
My aim is to ignore him and make sure he stays far away and if the ************ tries to cross me then give him a piece of my mind:(
Anyway so we decided to have couple of matches of 5 overs each.
I was umpiring all the time as the captain tryed outnew batting combination.So was i contend with bowling for which i did a good job.Fielding was sloppy in the 2nd match and i was totally out of cocentration.
During that time Bully Amol tryed to pull me but simply ignored and went to bowling.While bowling i opened out my mind to a senior player and the Captan-JK and Amol heard that but after that the bully amol kept a distance from me as i was looking red-faced angry.I went with others compeletly ignoring.
We had tea and then it was back to jokes and lots of leg pulling and most of the leg pulling was done by me :)
Bully Amol surprised us by telling that he was not aware at all about the weekend practice going from last one month until last on saturday night he got a call from a drunken teammate.By telling this he has unknowingly again proved his non-popularity among others as all of them were only laughing at him.What an Idiot:) :)

It was fun to see everybody finally contributing to the weekend practice.To start a new concept takes time and patience.One must have self-confidence.
Skyscrapers are not built in one day.
Looking forward to a great week and then to the weekend practice.
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Yeah Dave,
He has got into debate with lot of the teammates earlier so he is not that popular.
One drunk teammate accidentally called and told him otherwise he was not even told abt the weekend practice.
Just like last year this time he will annoy somebody and I am sure he will get a mouthful for that.
I am trying to avoid that because my captain has told me to keep ignoring as he wants me to concentrate on handling the team practice.He himself will handle that fool.Today evening i have a meeting with the captain.
Lets see how it shapes up.
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Chapter 10- Weekend Practice

Another weekend practice started with hope and excitement.We played single wicket and had great time.I personally scored well of the bat and bowled pretty OK.On Saturday we managed to play two inngs with 8 players.In the end had Tea and left for home.
Sunday started and this time surprisenly only 6 of the players turned up and we expected at least 12 players given the fact that now everybody knows and are aware of the time on sunday.
So we played four inngs of single wicket this time and had a pretty easy and relaxed approach.
I batted terrible and struggled to score in three inngs but it was the bowling that worked in place of batting.I am concentrating on my arm angle trying to bring it closer to my left ear to create better angle and control.The toe direction is also checked by a fellow spinner and i want to work on my fitness,bowling and batting.
After practice session;we were having tea and surprisenly the soon-to-be coach(Guy in orange T-Shirt having a bat in hand) has a drinking problem.
If he is serious about the club then he has to stop the drinking problem but he seems arrogant and would not be bothered about his aging body and failing fitness.He is very exprienced player and needs to take up the responsibility to manage the club and players but all he does is takes thing very lightly and pulling other players leg.That really de-motivates the players and damages their reputation making it into a laughinh matter.
There are some things that should be taken seriously.Even the Captain is pissed off from him.
This season additional responsibility is given upon me by my captain and we both had a meeting couple of days back.
Few things were talked about: he is working with my ex-coach to get few of his players fo rour club.Once we have fresh pair legs then automatically the not-so-interested guys will be shown the door.This season we will have practice nets from Tuesday to Sunday.
So office-goers can practice at least on weekends.The fees for the coming season will be raised to Rs.1500/-.Each of the players will have to buy their own bats.
We will make an attempt to meet regularly once in two week to discuss about the practice progress about each player and the coming season's development.
I am hopeful that this season the club will get its ground firmly placed and we can concentrate on cricket very seriously.
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Every time you post a picture, it shocks me at the contrast between the green fields that we play on and the pitches that you play on.

Sounds like it's starting to come together, hope it continues to go well.
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Scott,
those green field is the outfield of the club ground which is never taken care of and they grow in monsoon and die by the summer itself.......they are on their own.
If the management would have considered that it would be a superb outfield and we could have easily fielded without worrying of getting bruised and wounded body.
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Yeah, most grounds in India are poorly managed and fielding can be a nightmare sometimes. The ground that's nearest to my home and where we used to play had a lush green outfield though, and that got me into the habit of diving and sliding. Unfortunately, its not such a good habit when you are playing on those grounds(I learnt this the hard way). :laugh:
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Its none of those grounds.
Here's the image from Google maps.

25qdmdf.jpg


Not so lush green, but its better than most other grounds I've played at, and it doesn't hurt while diving.

I haven't played in a long time. Injuries, studies etc coming in the way of cricket.
 
Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Abhinav,
Thanks for the link.
The outfield looks good.
Can u provide the contact details of the club and contact person.
Ideally what would be the total charges for an ODI.
Is it possible to arrange a few matches on that ground in the coming season.
I am thinking to arrange it with my cricket team.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top