Cricket

CRICKET. Game i dearly love. I've been playing cricket since childhood. Dreamt of becoming a cricketer, but sadly that dream is just a dream now. This is the only sport which has more than two formats. Test cricket the oldest and the best. One day cricket i.e. 50 overs a side. And finally the new format-Twenty 20. Which people like in today's world. I still prefer test cricket, both watching and playing. I had several opportunities during my cricketing days. I have played in India, Pakistan and in England too. It was a great experience for me. Playing under different conditions and with different people. One of my memorable moment was when i took a wicket of an international player A.J.Burger (Namibia) when i was playing in England.

I have played at several levels. Captained my school team (Mayo). Played district, state, club cricket, village cricket in England and attended few national camps too. I have been coached by many good coaches- Madan Lal (former Indian cricketer), my school coach. Sachin Tendulkar has always been my idol and some people said i looked like him when i used to bat.

I was an all-rounder. Though i started my career as a medium pace bowler. Then switched to spin. Then i started opening the batting along with spin bowling. And fielding has always been my plus point. I was more of a defensive stable batsman rather than an aggressive opener. As a bowler i have had a lot of success.

I was fortunate to visit the home of cricket- Lord's ground in London. As its a dream of every cricketer to see that beautiful stadium. I cannot imagine my life without cricket and i thank my parents for supporting me.

There are few players i admire:

Batters.

• Sachin Tendulkar
• Brain Lara
• Steve Waugh
• Michael Vaughan
• Gary Kirsten

Bowlers.

• Wasim Akram
• Darren Gough
• Shane Warne
• Courtney Walsh
• Allan Donald

All rounders.

• Chris Cairns
• Sanath Jayasuriya
• Shaun Pollock
• Andrew Flintoff
• Nathan Astle

Fielders.

• Jonty Rhodes
• Herschelle Gibbs
• Lou Vincent
• Yuvraj Singh
• Andrew Symonds

Wicket keepers.

• Adam Gilchrist
• Moin Khan
• Nayan Mongia
• Mark Boucher
• Brendon McCullum

Some of my good performance were:

Batting.

• 67 vs DPS Mathura Road in Rajkot ipsc 2004
• 51 vs MNSS Rai in Rajkot ipsc 2004 (match winning single handed knock)
• 58* vs Mayoor school
• 52 vs Rajasthan
• 65 vs Eastbourne college in a club match in England
• 47 (23 balls) for Henfield club in a 20 over match
• 64 (61 balls) in Amity international school
• 149* in a day game
• 57 vs sussex martlets
• 41 vs Ardingly in England

These were some of my top innings along with many other fifty plus knocks. And among those scores, 58 was made 5 times. :)

Bowling.

• 6/56 vs Ellesmere college in England (bowled 19.4 overs on the trot)
• 5/11 vs Rajasthan (including a hat-trick)
• 4/5 vs Bollywood in Mayo (4-2-5-4)
• 4/17 vs Eastbourne college in England

These were some of my top bowling efforts among many other. I had 4 hat-tricks in my career and seven 5 wkts hauls.

As for my fielding. I took many catches, few of them to remember too and many run outs as well.

A cricketers career is incomplete without a blow or two on this body. Well i had a few in my career too and the one i can recall as the most painful blow- Ajmer vs Jodhpur. While batting, i got one in my rib cage and it was very painful.