The IIMB Sports legacy thrives on the foundations of Passion, Courage and Honour. So when the opportunity to deliver on a social front arrived this year, that so noble Vikasana, as always led from the front. However, this time they were not alone.
This semester has seen the Sports Council involved in a variety of pleasantly different activities and this was just another chance to add a new dimension to our personality. So it fell upon the IIMB cricket team to help the Indian Blind Cricket prepare for their scheduled tour of England in a fortnight’s time. As we later found out, we should have been prepared too.
Posters and high profile publicity have never been the Sports Council’s forte, but this time though, the posters were out in full flow with the highlight being IIMB CRICKET TEAM- Needs no introduction. Mid term examinations and a bit of complacency made sure the IIMB team had no practice whatsoever, (the game would be played with blind cricket rules- plastic noisy ball, underarm bowling, etc.) a fact that surely had a significant implication on the turn of events on match day.
Match Day: Sunday, August 1, 2010.
Friendship’s Day brought no surprises. There were very few sitting on the grassy banks of the beautiful IIMB cricket ground. Sunday mornings aren’t the best crowd pullers here but those who did fight the late night sleep syndrome were thoroughly entertained, at least for half the match.
The IIMB team captain was found explaining the rules of the game to his team mates just before the match, some however didn’t quite understand until they faced the music. The IIMB captain won the toss and decided to field first. (Should have batted though. We could easily have had two full matches with our batting prowess.) But let’s not dwell on what could have been. Instead let’s look back at what turned out to be a day to remember for everyone (for different reasons obviously).
Naveen C was given the task of wiping off the opponents with his screaming underarmers but the batsman on strike had other ideas. The first ball went for a huge six over cover and that just set the tone for the onslaught that followed. The batsman, Prakash, had a great day with the bat (I guess our ordinary “underarm” bowling not helping) and scored a mammoth century that propelled their score to over 200. More than 60% of their runs came in boundaries including two massive, unbelievable sixes (both off the same bowler, any guesses???).
The chase was expectedly going to be tough and some really fast underarm bowling didn’t help the IIMB openers’ cause, both of them falling cheaply. Prakash showed why he was such a huge asset to the Indian team with some extraordinary work with the gloves, getting two batsmen stumped. Extraordinary (how else would you describe a completely blind man throwing to the stumps perfectly every single time with only the keeper’s voice for direction) fielding got the better of Popo who thought he could sneak in a couple of runs. The IIMB captain, Shini Patel tried his best to apply himself to the situation and get accustomed to sweep (literally) batting but his best efforts help the team escape an embarrassing loss. The team however took the whole thing in a lighter vein (kudos to all of us) and admitted that they had been beaten but in a different ball game altogether. Handshakes, smiles and group photos followed to cap off a memorable time on the wonderful occasion of Friendship Day. We wish the Indian Blind Cricket team the very best for their tour of England and for the World Cup next year and hope they come again for another match. Hopefully this time we will be better prepared to sweep and under swing. Cheers!!!
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