When we moved to a new city, initially, everything was new and unfamiliar as we were exposed to new people, rules, culture and lifestyle. Most fascinating thing for us as sports enthusiasts, is the sports culture in the city. There are playgrounds, irrespective of size & types, all over the city as it is part of their daily routine. Cyclists pass through at hasty speed on cycle tracks and runners running at single digit temperatures. Slowly, we were trying to adjust and adapt to some of this.

Meanwhile, I got a message to participate in a weekend cricket practice in a social group. Without a second thought, I agreed to join, which was close-by, on the TU university campus. Met Soumya, Rajesh, Roshan, Mukul and a few others on the first practice day. Then we used to have regular weekend practice sessions for 4–5 weeks and meet other team players. The team was a mix of both experienced (i.e., where wisdom comes with age) and young players. One set of players gave direction, whereas the other set gave momentum. Some team players used to come from different nearby countries (like Germany & Belgium) to practice. With progress, we also started playing friendly matches with other teams. These match results taught us our strong and weak points and we focused on those areas.

We got an invitation to participate in the HTC Cricket Cup, which was scheduled for a week from 25th July 2020, and with this, it was time to test our wings. We were in Group D with other Teams like Eindhoven Superstars, 12th Man Team and Team Bulls Veldhoven. We played three matches in which we lost the first two and won the last one. We posted good scores in the winning match (i.e., 85/3 in 10 overs) against the 12th Man, but failed to restrict the opponent within certain score, and they qualified for next round with better run rate. It was disappointing as we were out of the season’s first tournaments but we all started to work on improvement areas and develop new strategies.

A bend in the road is not the end of the road, unless we fail to make a turn.

After some time, we registered for the Eindhoven Cricket League, which was scheduled for 29 Aug 2020. With better practice sessions and strategies, we were all geared up for our last tournament of the season. We were in Group A with other teams like LCC-Utrecht, Eindhoven Super stars and MCC2 Meerhoven. After league matches, we were second in the points table after one win, one loss and one tie. In Tie match, Rohit, who was excellent behind the stumps, scored 2 runs in the last ball against Eindhoven Superstars to qualify for the knock-out rounds and this helped the team morally to give their best in upcoming matches. Eventually we won both knock-out qualifiers to reach the finale. This time we were better in all three departments, i.e. bat, ball & field. Batsmen (like Soumya, Varun, Amol and Preetham) gave a good start in each innings, whereas bowlers (like Siva, Roshan, Shashank, Amol & Pretham) took early wickets with good economy rate to restrict the opponent within less score. And, of course, fielders (like Mukul, Amol, Bobby & others) stood like guardians for ground fielding.

Finally, it was time to cross the last hurdle. Difficult job for captain to select the final playing eleven members and then he decided to keep the same semi-final winning combination after discussion. We opted to bowl as we did very well in the last couple of matches. Restricted the opponent with only 26 runs with excellent bowling spells of Siva, Preetham & Shashank and we won the final comprehensively. Apart from playing eleven, many other teammates gave emotional and moral support on and off the field. However, without a team manager (Rajiv, who was always present for any kind of support) and Captain (Rajesh, who was very disciplined & brought the team together), we would never have reached this point.

We Indians celebrate many festivals in a calendar year, but the most celebrated across all regions, irrespective of religion, caste and class, is Cricket. Also, we are true ambassadors of Cricket to spread its essence wherever we go by creating a sports ecosystem, from participating to organizing tournaments, etc. This journey gave us exposure to meet new people, share experiences, visit different places with the team, entertaining commentary, taste different tasty foods (specifically potato curry). Win and lose is part of every sport, but it is important to have a good team to share those moments together irrespective of outcome. Tried to connect the dots by looking back in the past and cherishing till we meet on the field with the team in the future. All the best.