Although I moved to MKE during 2003, came to know of this league only towards the end of the 2009 season when my good friend Sukumaran (playing for Apache) introduced me to this league. Having had three knee surgeries during 2003/4 (torn meniscus requiring arthroscopic surgeries), I had mixed feelings as to whether I can even jog around. But to my extreme joy and frankly amazement, I was able to chase around balls on my first outing as a last minute standby for Cherokees with Khawar being my first captain. That was the season when I played for Cherokees as well as Apache (lead by my great friend and mentor, Jagdish Patil).
What was most interesting was that in my very first batting stint, coming in as the tenth batsman in the eighteenth over, I was able to stand around to manage a tie.
Anyhow, played 2010th season under Jagdish Patil (Apache renamed as Knights). He is one of the gentlest person I have seen, having the uncanny capacity to have his team mates feel very secure under him. Even though I was a new comer to the side, he always looked to provide opportunities even after repeated failures. Wonderful and inspiring captain indeed.
Led Knights in 2011/2012 and tired my very best to have my team play in the spirit of the game and my fellows play every game with passion and go home with the feeling of having contributed something at the end of every game. There were some interesting incidents over these two years, which are blogged in a separate blog. Some of the memorable events were
- Arvind Iyengar blasting a quick fire 50 against Tigers + many of his superhuman efforts in the field throughout the season
- Jagdish playing the last game of the 2011 season, knowing fully well of an ailment which required a surgery the very next day
- Splitting Knights to form Challengers
- Amazing, powerful and clean hitting by Arvind Manjagowda
- Gareth's all-round play. Nearly won two matches single-handedly with some of the best stroke play you will ever see
- Sashi single-handedly beating us in a game after being 7 wickets down for less than 20, chasing 120 odd. I think he scored 74 in that game
- Couple of last ball defeats against United with myself playing last ball against Roshan
- Amazing sportsmanship of Srini, the then United captain who decided to stay around to complete the game despite a hail-storm, knowing that they will be through to the play-off with a rain washout
- Karthik Paliniappans wonderful opening batting alongside stylish batting of Venkat
- Jayaraj's maturing into a consistent opening batsman after repeated failures at the start
- Tremendous middle over spin bowling by Vinod and Sumit
- Sandeep Dhar's swashbuckling hundred against us
- Losing to Tigers in a knock-out game (before play off) on the last ball with some umpiring controversy
- Umpiring fiasco against Warriors for which I have to send an apology note to TJ and almost relinquishing the captaincy etc.,
- AJ last ball six to win the 2011 championship against hapless United
Played 2013/2014 season as a player. Although I was able to make contributions here and there, for some reason I was not feeling too enthused with certain happenings in the field and had the very unpleasant memory of walking out of the game before the start of an innings during our last game of the season. It was a very regrettable moment indeed.
During the off-season before 2015, had contemplated the idea of forming a new team and frankly speaking, had enough talented and passionate bunch. On hearing that Knights might be short of players, abandoned that idea. Subsequently found out that most of the Hawks have joined Knights. Realizing that it might be hard for the captain to accommodate so many guys and especially a old guy like me, the day before the first game, decided to not play the 2015 season. It was a hard decision, but felt that it was the right decision since there is no point spending a day at the park doing nothing, sacrificing so much time away from the family. Although the captain might have tried his best to accommodate, it would certainly have been hard on him with such a big pool of players.
Had a couple of sleepless nights, finding it hard to realize that I will not be at Lindsay this season. Frankly speaking, the time spend at Lindsay with all these guys, each of whom I consider as family, are some of the most precious moments in my life. How did I decide to abandon the ship and decided to have this self inflected wound on myself. To the good fortune, heard that Lions might be short of players and in fact have played their first game with just nine guys. Just out of curiosity with very little hope, reached out to the captain, Ruvindra and my Regal brother, AJ who readily accepted me into the team. There are no words to express my gratitude to Lions who have given me a chance to play this season. One of the happiest days of my life to know that I will play in Regal this year as well.
Who knows what is in store next year (for that matter, tomorrow) and is it not important that we live everyday as though this is the last day of our lives. Here I am to enjoy Regal as a Lion.
Needless to state, the game is bigger than everyone and let's all enjoy this wonderful game as a family.
Go Lions
Go Regal.
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