Cricket and ME

The never ending journey began on 2nd April 1993. I don't remember what i used to do during early days but all of the relatives say i used to play myself on roads with  the ball ......

     I remember i used to play myself if no one was not around any where at any place ...i carried a ball and used to catch it...bang it on the wall and dive to catch it like Jhonty Rhodes and Yuvraj :) . I never liked to play with my mates as they used to play half pitch cricket with a plastic ball ..but i played bcoz there wasn't any option .

Cricket Crazy me .. around 2000 cuttings

That were the old days ....now a days i hardly dive around as we live in flat system  :( .

     My mother sent me for Cricket coaching when i was in 6th Standard around 13 yrs old . It was a great platform but this ruined my cricketing skills. According to my Brother Who is a avid cricket lover that i had a pure technique but when i joined the coaching they asked me to change and the downfall began.

   I played my First match when i was on Vacation at Solapur . I was the captain of my side named Universal Cricket Club.My Debut as a captain and a player was cruel to me as i was out on Duck with our innings collapsing at 45 all out and we lost the match by 10wickets :( .

 I did not show my face to my coach and that was the mistake i made . The next matched i was playing in another age group   . though i being a middle order batsman i was sent after the fall of 9th wicket at the score reading 112/9 in 16 overs ..and the reason behind it was that they needed quick runs, so they had to send some big hitters. After the fall of 9th wicket it was my turn and the message for me was to just play the remaining 20 overs.(i would have done the same through the 20overs :(   ) My partner and me steadied the ship and got us across 135  but we lost the match thanx to some xtra runs given :( .

   Then i came back to pune after my vacations .... joined my regular school and started my life out of cricket.One Day when i was at my aunts house watching ashes 2005 . i came across a add called "Rahul Dravid's Biggest fan Contest " It was a SMS contest oraganised by Castrol ( RD was the brand ambassodor of Castrol at that time )  .. i quietly grabbed my fathers Cell Phone and sent the message with the correct answer :P ..after few days my father asked about the message . i was afraid ..he then said that u are the biggest fan of Dravid and was called at a 5 star hotel in Pune "The Taj Blue Diamond" , Pune , India.

me with RD

I was really excited. The Day came  ( 27th dec. 2005 ) was nervous the whole day . Came back from school and was waitng for my father to come. At last he came and my nervousness increased :P . We left our home at around 5:30 pm as the program was scheduled at 6:30 pm .

   At around 6:10 i was at the venue . for the first time i saw a Five Star hotel . And in 15 mins i was in , the stage was set and we were welcomed by a lady :P she gave the introductory speech . The program was set to begin . we were fisrt shown some Damn Boring castrol Ads and then A vidoe clip of Mr. Rahul Dravid was shoen .. goosebumps thats all .
We had a entertainment program before the wall arrived .it was conducted by Vikram Sathaye [ @vikramsathaye ] on twitter. He is a Standup comedian & Eminent Thinker...  [ http://www.justvikram.com ]. It was the funnies experience for me . Then the wall was infront of me .The program was a funny on due to Vikram bhau :P RD shared many of his memories with all of us. At the entrance we were made to participate in a lucky draw competion and i did as they said and it paid off .. i was one of the five lucky winners who won a autgraphed bat and got a chance to ball RD . #aweomesness

The bat i was gifted my RD

Rahul Dravid's Autograph .

That was the best day of my life ..we had dinner at hotel and left the venue .. with many memories to share ..and the two most memorable were meeting RD and most imp. i got my first well made cricket BAT ..  :)

to be continued .........