DEREK MARTYN Inspiring captain and opening bat, Derek is the mainstay of the club's batting line up. A gritty southpaw from Kiwiland, Derek's batting has only one purpose, hold the innings together. This he does excellently, often boring the opposition bowlers, not to mention his own team mates. He is also a fine left arm medium pacer, often getting crucial breakthroughs in crunch situations. As the gora captain of a largely desi team, Derek has motivated the team to many victories, most notably 2008 Div II championship. Derek still doesnt understand the fuss around Twenty20 and conveniently makes excuses and skips most of the games. RAJA ANANDA Opening/middle Order batsman, opening/first change bowler, wicket keeper, vice-captain, captain, manager, Raja has donned many hats with aplomb. An aggressive batsman who tries to bat higher than he normally should, Raja's batting is a long list of hits and misses and is as much about entertainment as it is about value. As vice-captain of the team, he is alway looking to gather the desi players and mutiny against Derek so he can one day become captain. Having realised his Right Arm Brutal is largely ineffective on the flat pitches, Raja is making the transition to Right Arm Incisive. VINAY KANITKAR Boasting an impeccable cricketing pedigree, Vinay is arguably the best all rounder in whole of New England. His skillful batting and fine left arm spin consistently sees him topping MSCL averages. The backbone of the batting and bowling line up, the club would be at half strength without his contributions. (Although, it must be mentioned that 2008 Div II Championship was won even though he missed the entire season!) Having successfully captained the team for few years, mostly notably winning the 2006 Div II Championship, he decided it was time to step down and groom the youngsters. SAAD KHALID One of the fittest players in the team, Saad is the most improved player over the last few years. He used his baseball skills and started off as a fine wicket keeper. While his keeping was excellent, his batting not so much, almost baseballesque average. Gradually he transformed himself into a stable top order batsman, pushing up that average in the process. Lack of bowling options within the team made him put his hand up and he has now become a good all rounder. Saad is paranoid about two things in life, getting kidnapped if he ever visits Pakistan and getting run-out while batting. While he cant do much about the former, he is planning to improve running between the wickets. VINEET PRABHU The new ball bowlers have finished their spells, the opposing batsmen having negotiated the early overs and are now settling down to score some easy runs in the middle overs. Well, its not that easy cause a force called Vineet is unleashed. With his rising, brute force deliveries outside off, Vineet is a captain's delight and handful for any batsman. Vineet steaming in is a sight to watch, his torn and taped cricket shoes that are more worn out than Steve Waugh's baggy green, add to the effect. An aggressive tail-ender, having perfected the heave over midwicket, he is now concentrating on scythe towards square leg. As one of the few players who actually went to MIT, Vineet is also super intelligent. AMIT JHAWAR PRAHLAD VISHWANATHAN A diminuitive batsman, Prahlad, often seen with trouser pockets jingling (he says its keys, we know its change collected from giving Lowell students car rides) is an unassuming character. However, with a cobra-nobra bat in hand he transforms into a fearsome opener. His batting style contrasts with Derek's sedate batting and is often relied upon to provide explosive starts. Although he started off as a handy leg spinner, too much tape tennis ball cricket has badly damaged his shoulder and wrist, rendering his legspin largely ineffective. He has now switched to fast chucking during practice. When he is not counting change, he takes excellent catches at slip. GAURAV TANNA Crafty off-spinners of the world, move aside, Gaurav is now the proud owner of the latest wicket taking ball. Its a gentle floating offspinner, often over pitched, usually short pitched, way outside off stump, almost wide, that takes an eternity to reach the batsman. The batsman who now doesnt know what to do with it, messes up so badly that he is either caught or stumped! We call this ball the goosra, the crappy ball that fetches wickets. (For the uninitiated, goo=crap in Hindi). From the Sanjay Manjrekar school of batting, Gaurav is sent in to stablize the middle order if too many wickets fall. Gaurav is also a safe fielder and a good catcher. JATIN KARVIR Inspite of an ungainly run up where he comes in running fast and then interrupts just before the jump, Jatin is one of the more successful medium pacers of the team. Many have tried to understand the reason for his success. Some say its the way God rewards him for being pious and humble. Others say its because he does it both ways....err, swing the ball that is. Although he has a tendency to play all over and get out to straight balls, Jatin is a handy batsman and has baled the team out of many tight situations. A safe outfielder, Jatin is also the chief motivator of the team, especially in Marathi. RAHUL BHASKARAN A burly figure, Rahul uses a short run up but still generates enough momentum to bowl straight and fast. He bowls excellent yorkers and is often called upon to bowl some tight spells. Destroyer of many a bat's (not batsman's) reputation, he is the single biggest contributor to broken bats in the team kit. When taking guard while batting, he pounds the toe end of the bat (and the ground beneath) into submission. He sometimes then proceeds to whack the bowling to all parts of the ground. A not so safe fielder in the outfield, (he broke his nose once while attempting a catch!), Rahul is a great guy to have in any team. AMIT SHARMA Amit is an explosive batsman and the following anecdote best describes his batting. The outgoing batsman is coming back, Amit is padded up to go next, he lights a cigarette, takes few puffs, gives it to someone to hold, proceeds to bat, gets out, comes back and finishes the cigratte, and still within this short period of time, often outscores everyone else in the team. When not hitting big sixes, Amit is a safe wicket keeper. Busy enjoying marital bliss, Amit has been playing on and off for the last two years. SANJAY KRISHNA An excellent batsman, probing fast bowler, occasional leg spinner, Sanjay is the most athletic all rounder in MSCL. His summer weekends are spent playing with all sorts of balls....cricketing type that is, tape tennis, hard tennis and season ball. Often he plays upto 4 games per day. Most excitable on the field, Sanjay's brain functions only 2 ways, either full on when he bags wickets, scores runs, takes blinders; or full off when he gives overthrows almost breaking the keeper's hand in the process, bowls erratically, throws his wicket away and changes field off each one of his deliveries. TAMJID CHOWDHURY The Bong from Chittagong, Tamjid is the club's stalwart wicket keeper. A very good player at the U-13,15,17 levels, he couldnt make the transition to higher grade since his age grew but he didnt. An excellent batsman to have at number six, his scrappy batting fetches the team a lot of singles and twos. With balls often rising over his short stature while batting, the wides called contribute even more to the team score. Even though too much heading while playing soccer has made his head go bald, he always looks at the bright side of life. ADNAN SALAM The military medium pacer of the team, Adnan is often called upon to bowl economical spells in tight situations. Busting off a short run up, and inspite of his small frame, Adnan uses his smooth action to bowl nagging lengths. Always popular with the crowd, after long night of partying, usually in Amherst, Adnan often shows up late for games. ANUJ SHROFF A left hander with a high backlift, crabby technique and unusual stance is not expected to score many runs. But Anuj has proved everyone wrong and has become the Chanderpaul of the team. A new face in the team in 2009, Anuj has scored many important runs and has been involved in crucial partnerships throughout the season. A safe fielder, Anuj has vowed to improve his bowling in time for the next season. DHARAMVIR SINGH Even by the time he was in his mid-twenties, Dharam had yet to a lay a hand on a ball (cricketing leather type that is) and on a car. (Some say we can add a girl to the list...but that's story for another day) When he finally did, his approach to car driving and bowling were vastly different. With a steering in hand, Dharam is the gentle genie, following all traffic rules, driving 10mph below speed limits, stopping "twice" at STOP signs, etc. As a new ball bowler though he is a meanie, using all his IIT intelligence to bowl nagging and accurate outside off lengths. He is the man the team goes to whenever a breakthrough is needed. Dharam is also a good bat, although he will have to wait another 2-3 years to move up the batting order from his current number 11 spot in keeping with the team's seniority policy. As the club's best bowler in 2010, he got to shake hands with Sunil Gavaskar. Desperately wants to get hold of that photograph now so it can provide some leverage during marriage proposals. |
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