We got the prized thing back… and this is how it happened!

India is a country where Cricket is followed like a religion and we tablers are no different. Jaffa, the biggest fellowship of Round Table India is conducted once every year which gives a platform for tablers across the country to showcase their cricketing talent. But frankly speaking, every Area was focused and determined on winning the cup more than considering this as just a fellowship ( tabling, fellowship etc ye sab ground ke andar koi nahin jaanta…all I mean to say is it is serious cricket played by professional cricketers!). Amongst this competition and expectations, we from Area IX were the so called underdogs in the competition and as it so often happens in cricket, the underdogs happened to win the tournament and yes we got the prized thing back…and this is how it happened!!!

The defeat in the hands of Area II last year in the semi finals left a lot of us with sleepless nights only waiting for an opportunity to square which would come a year later. The Jaffa tournament is designed in such a way that a single defeat would get you eliminated from the tournament. So, perfection is what matters the most. ‘Practice makes man perfect! – This is what we believed in and our preparation for Jaffa 2015 started with a lot of effective practice sessions held both in Hyderabad and Vizag. We finalized a squad of 19(Adetya A (C), Aditya P, Ankit, Latif, Ravi, Piyush, Akshat, Vivek, Sushanth, Sagar, Akshay and Vikranth were the 12 players and Gautam, Sajja, Rajan, Deepak, Sumeeth, Vikky, Kishore who was physically absent but mentally with us were the support crew) who were all set to travel down to delhi to get the prized thing back.

We were placed in pool 3 alongside Area III (from Kolkata) and Area IV (from Mumbai) for the league games. Our first match was against Area IV in which we batted first. We had an early hick up by losing 3 wickets but Akshat had other ideas. He played a responsible innings and guided us to an excellent total by compiling an unbeaten half century. This was enough for our team to get the momentum going. We successfully defended the total and got the first win under our belt. The next game was with Area III and we had to play it back to back (which meant we had the option to bat first if we wanted to and that’s what we did). Latif (‘Babbarsher’ as he is fondly called in Area IX) announced his arrival with a brilliant 85 which had 7 sixes (some of which were hit on to trees, tents and whatever) hit out of the park. It was a one sided affair and without breaking sweat we were into the semi finals. The semis were against the host team (Area V) who had the home advantage in all possible ways and were all worried about finding out who from our players was Latif (lol). Incidentally this was also probably the first time we felt some pressure but little did we know that a new HERO from Area IX was in the verge of making history – a crazy century from Ankit of Area IX left the hosts speechless and got us through to the finals. The finals was against defending champions Area II and this was the moment all of us were waiting for over a year, to defeat Area II and it couldn’t have got bigger as it was the finals too. We batted first again but were down and out (as per most present) due to the loss of 3 quick wickets. That was when the tabling world happened to witness a counter attack, a stamp of authority from a master blaster, probably one of the finest innings played under pressure- a scintillating 96 from the X factor of Area IX- Latif. With a good support from Akshat(the wall of Area IX), Latif took us to a respectable total. Cometh the hour, big players rise to big occasions- The captain of our team Adetya (who was suffering throughout the tournament from lower back issues) rose to the occasion by picking up 2 wickets in the very first over of the match. Adetya was so determined to defeat Area II- this was so evidently seen in the way he set

fields throughout the innings. The bowlers put in a team effort and ensured that we defended the total which meant we are the new champs, which meant we were going to lift the Jaffa cup and which meant WE GOT THE PRIZED THING BACK!!! Akshat got the best bowler award, Ankit the best batsman and Latif was the man of the finals and the series.

To summarize I should say that we were strong in 3 aspects of the game. The first was we had an excellent captain in Adetya who not only led from the front but also gave us all enormous confidence that we can win the cup. The second was we believed in team effort and enjoyed each other’s success. But the one aspect that Area IX really stood apart from the rest was the support crew we had. If not for these 7 guys being with us through the course of our preparation and during the tournament, the end result could have been a little different may be. So three cheers to Sumeeth, Rajan, Vicky, Kishore, Deepak, Gautam and Sajja. All in all I should say we had the perfect tournament, which has laid foundation to a team to look out for in the future, a team that would no longer be considered underdogs. On a lighter note, these are some of the things said post tournament: Latif: “cricket is a team game played by 11… all I did was contribute to the team”; Adetya: “I can hardly move, but the trophy in front puts a smile…add to this a few Chennai faces and the pain is totally gone”; Piyush: “An amazing journey coming to an end! I would say it is just the beginning!” (3 cheers to sports convener Piyush for being the back bone of our team in all aspects); AC Sumeeth wrote a wonderful mail which made us all feel amazing. And for me this was probably the best experience in my tabling career… would like to thank the entire team and support crew for being there… especially my captain Ady for having faith in me in the final… so 3 cheers to TEAM AREA IX… I miss this experience and cannot wait for JAFFA 2016….lets pledge that WE WON’T GIVE IT BACK!!!