Story c39_0823|Born to Fight for Success - A Journey with SA Redbacks, Innings 2 of WW Vs SA FC

[surendar]

Chapter 29
Politics, Politics & Politics?
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July 9, 2009
Time - 11: 00 PM​

With the dream of having my first T20 getting shattered, I couldn't sleep anymore with peace as my heart just kept pumping fast with curiosity of knowing my place inside team XI for next coming T20s. I made sure that I got up on time next day to get myself in nets session despite the chill weather which was very much tempting me to sleep for bit longer than usual.

When I saw my coach(Arun), I very much had the opportunity to ask him directly for my expectations to debut for India U19,

Suren Ram: Good Morning, Arun!
Arun : Morning chap, how are you doing today?
Suren Ram: Pretty good!

(... before even I ask him the same back ... )

Arun : So, you started your nets?
Suren Ram: Not yet Arun, pretty much about to start!
Arun : What're you waiting for lad? Go ahead, do some warm-ups & stretches. Look chap, this is not our home place to have everyone behind you always saying the basic things that need to be done. Com'on chap, lets get started. I am going on for a run! See you in a bit.

This completely ruined my opportunity to ask my coach, as other folks started to turn up and we pretty much had another nets sessions under sweat. My most awaiting moment came, YES!, the announcement time from my coach.

" Lads, some of you are really practicing so hard. It is very good to observe your determinations. Way to go, lads! Never give up, Never let it go from your own hands! This is exactly what we need to do, no matter on whatsoever the pressure around us. For tonight's T20 match, it is going to be fun under lights & lets enjoy it. We are going to GO WITH SAME team. Good luck lads."

This really shattered me more inside, but I kept quiet!

India U19 came back with the Win in Second T20​

DID NOT GET INTO TEAM XI, but yet cheered my lads from dressing room with painful frustrations/anger/disappointments inside me. I smiled outside, but was feeling dejected inside!​

Aussie openers once again had a dominating start for their first wicket, but things turned completely other way when our lads put a checkmate to scoring rate in final 10 overs. Milind, Gani & Lamba certainly looked as our key bowlers with managing to keep Aussies only for 137 runs. Pitched looked very slow & low, and there were certain moments where I felt that I was fortunate for not being selected to play in poor pitch conditions. With that being said, our openers Bain & Herdwadkar started off with very conscious scoring rate without taking risks & they rotated strikes very well most of the times. It was exactly this moment, where I felt that I should have played this match. Oh well, though we lost wickets in last 10 overs, we managed to pull off the victory with 1 ball to spare. As soon as the match was over, I just underwent mixed depressions that night and I was completely not in a mood to attend the next day's practice session as well.

I just felt being ignored, & it was this moment where I realized the value of my coach who actually exposed me under various tough conditions despite having conflicts. I didn't know what else to do rather than just being robotic in making my attendance in nets session & play some strokes to come back and do warming from bench during matches? This is frustrating, felt like something getting agitated inside me. But I had to carry on, as I was not in any position to show my loss of temper which would reflect badly in my own character. Yes, I bit my own lip so hard to absorb the pain in me within me!

Third T20 - Feeling so Ignored, Can anyone throw a magical wand to me?​

Left OUT in last T20 as well, Australia won the match & T20 series between India U19 & Australia U19. One chance is what I expected, but nothing went in favor of me except for my name written on paper for U19 squads! ​

During the last T20 match, though I felt so down I tried to give some talks to Arun with wanting to figure out any specific selection/needs. Coach/Skipper did made a small change by bringing one of our pure batter(Seth) in top 3 for the line up, but I really didn't understand the filtering criteria in selection.

When Seth & Herwadkar were batting,

Suren Ram : Hey Arun, what do you think of today's match?
Arun : This is going to be our series decider, our lads should go well. Seth is a power hitting guy, I have seen him playing in nets and this guy really has some good power. Grounds here look very big, but am confident in our lads.

... I just had to swallow something very difficult to hear my coach praising Seth ...

Suren Ram : Oh .. Yes! [ with hestitations & blinking reactions ]
Arun : Yes? You know him already?
Suren Ram : Oh.. No! I meant, yeah this guy seem to have good hitting skills. I can see his placement being very clean in his last boundary hit!

... Suren? WHAT THE HELL are you doing? You initiated this convo to find out about you & not to sing some songs for SOMEONE! WAKE UP! ....

Arun : Zol? Can you come here for a moment, we need to discuss on today's strategy in bowling line up. This pitch is looking absoultely batting beauty! Zol?

... Saying these, Arun stood up from his seat & went backwards for further discussions! ...

With these things happening around me, I just didn't know on what exactly is going wrong. Is it me who is responsible for all these? Can't I just ask - "Will you allow me to prove myself?" directly to Arun? Geeeeezz! Nothing happening right for me at this moment. Actually, it was just not me to be in such a situation, our batters struggled to their bowling to end up only on 135 runs after having a dominating start. It was Ashknazi, their key frontline bowler who really made the magic with 8 dot balls in his last 2 overs which were all belonging to the final 4 overs of Indian innings. This turned out to be a cakewalk for Aussies to take a commanding position in chase, they never looked to have any troubles to get to the target. In the end, Aussies won the T20 series with 2-1 as end result.

My coach was extremely disappointed as our batters failed to do their job on such a beautiful batting wicket.

" You know what guys, I guess many of us are not taking cricket seriously? We travelled so many miles apart to fight & keep the winning moments going. This isn't the luxury trip for us just to take photographs & enjoy sight seeing. These grounds might be big, just imagine that it is your home & start hunting! In these T20 matches, I am upset for not having found a team chemistry going and everyone is still thinking from individual perspective. Cricket is a team game, get it very clear TEAM GAME, I repeat! I just hope that, we can restore some pride in our OD series unlike T20 one. Just, GOOD NIGHT<< a loud tone!>>", said my coach Arun with lot of frustations.

Snapshot inside dressing room, during Arun's addressing from ANGER/FRUSTRATIONs!​

Words from my coach were very valid, but I just laid down on my lap with so much anger in my ownself for not having played these matches.. Is this what a player who just got 60 balls century, deserves? Nothing to say, except for my blank mind... ​

I ran short of words.. Ran short of suggestions.. Ran short of thoughts.. Ran short of motivations.. Multiple distractions from my own thoughts, as I am feeling more painful to be in bench. 'Suren Ram isn't a player to keep warming up in the benches, he likes to go & hunt for pride whenever the challenge is put in front of him', said my mind voice. You can call it destiny or fate or whatever, I don't believe that there is someone to feel so dejected than me in this world at this very moment. May be, am over reacting? Probably not, cricket is what I feel in my blood & I am simply not that character to spend time in backroom when my own nation is under threat of restoring some pride in a foreign land! Suren Ram's Destiny hunt continues...
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[Samuels]

I will mention again and I like the fact that you are not making you career go like hop newbie, hop international star. One suggestion to the Ram (getting into the story a bit ), it is very crucial for a player to win his captain's confidence. So, hit a few shots in the nets when he is watching you and if the situation is not in your favor at the nets, take him to some bar. He is only 19.

 

[HawkAussie]

You will get in there some day Ram

 

[surendar]

Date is absolutely fine, as far as the titles aren't being truncated.

Nah, I prefer Chapters. It is easier to read Chapter x+1 after Chapter x and anyway, the date does not really matter much in a virtual story so I would suggest you to stay with the title as Chapters/serials.

Now I have added both to the title, please let me know whether it is looking good or any preferrable changes needed. Thanks for the feedback, guys.

I will mention again and I like the fact that you are not making you career go like hop newbie, hop international star. One suggestion to the Ram (getting into the story a bit ), it is very crucial for a player to win his captain's confidence. So, hit a few shots in the nets when he is watching you and if the situation is not in your favor at the nets, take him to some bar. He is only 19.

You will get in there some day Ram

Thanks a lot Samuels & Matt. I am trying my best to keep it on realistic story line imagining myself on what I would have done if I was a cricketer. Only request from myside would be - whenever, whatever, whichever places you find the storyline weird, please let me know & we can sort that out. After all, this story was resumed only due to interest of our readers. So, Yeah!

 

[Aravind.]

Realistic update once again bro these type of things happened to many cricketers especially in india.Hope ram comes out of it with the help of his captain/management.

 

[Prithvi]

Realistic update once again bro these type of things happened to many cricketers especially in india.Hope ram comes out of it with the help of his captain/management.

Your name kind of has negative role in this story as of now. Needless to mention, it might turn out to be a great role in this story

 

[SambarVadai]

Have to agree with prithvi

Now coming to the story..Its not looking very good for Suren at the moment//Another twist...that conversation about Seth..All in all,it'll go well as far as how it is shaping up...First of all,just make the dumb coach understand that he needs to trust in players rather than keeping them on Benches

 

[Aravind.]

Your name kind of has negative role in this story as of now. Needless to mention, it might turn out to be a great role in this story

Well i too think so

 

[Samuels]

I am trying my best to keep it on realistic story line imagining myself on what I would have done if I was a cricketer. Only request from myside would be - whenever, whatever, whichever places you find the storyline weird, please let me know & we can sort that out. After all, this story was resumed only due to interest of our readers. So, Yeah!

One more match without you will be a wee bit too much since you are the star of the story. I am taking that India wants to give second string players more chances to gain experience and that is why we have not seen the likes of Baba Aparajith, Mohsin Sayyed, Sanju Samson, Askhar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Armaan Jaffer in the squad.

 

[Jine]

Nice story

 

[surendar]

Chapter 30
End of First Round - India/Aus/Zim U19, Warney Tendulkar Trophy
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July 16, 2009
Time - 9: 00 AM​

With Australia U19 winning the T20 series with 2-1 against India U19, the pressure in our dressing room was very immense to prove ourselves in foreign conditions.

"You guys are very young, you should be so proud that you have chances like these tours outside country, you need to give away everything to prove yourself against the opponents. Don't think about your gameplay, start thinking about our team's gameplay. It is time for us to get together and prove ourselves. Good Luck! ", said Arun, our coach.

The line up was announced & my fear turned out true, I was not in playing XI once again. This was the moment I actually felt and realized that, my distance with coach and my skip looked to be big with massive communication gap. Not giving a player an opportunity, not sure whether it is mistake of my coach/captain or is the mistake of me due to the communication gap. With no options left for me, I just proceeded to the dressing room for continuing my stay in bench and artificially cheer up for the team. I might sound mean, but I am just a normal human in the end.

Match 2 - India 19 Vs Australia U19, Australia Thrashed India​

It was too tough to spend in bench for 100 full overs, but the collapese of 8 wickets within 100 runs spoiled all the moments in our dressing room!!!​

With this match being played @ Power Park Stadium, Darwin - we all knew that the conditions were going to favor the bowlers, but unexpectedly the wicket condition stayed low through out the match. When our bowlers got the Aussies for 200, I observed a moment of overconfidence in Zol for the 200 score of Assuies but I just kept quiet.

We did get off to a good start with 90 odd runs for 2 wickets and it was when Herwadkar/Khajuriya pair looked solid, the collapse was initiated. Ayre and Andrews killed our batsmen pace and we started to fall like pack of cards. We had plenty of deliveries left, but we didn't have enough wickets in our hands to get to that target of 200+ runs. India lost by 18 runs, but Australia's dominance of last 25 overs completely revealed the vulnerability of Indian middle/lower order.

Not sure, what gave me the boldness but I went to Arun after the match,

Suren : Arun, do you have a minute?
Arun : Yes chap, tell me. You want to say any additional excuses like Zol for throwing our game in such a poor way?
Suren : No, not an excuse. But how about considering the people in bench giving their chances to hunt some pride?

<< OH MY GOD! This ISN'T the way I was supposed to ask, but nervousness/tension in me just made to blabber something? oooops, I thought! >>

Arun : What do you mean, chap?
Suren :Oh actually...
Arun : Hang on? So you mean you are impatient to get into team XI? Do you know how much each player playing in team XI have earned their opportunities? This is not Tamil Nadu fella, This is India U19 - the future fellas who go to National side. Do you think that, just because you made centuries on flat tracks in Indian conditions means you can have some good vacation times on alien conditions? When we decide those XI players for a U19 match, it means a lot to India U19 status. You won't understand those fella, you are just a young chap. To be frank, I don't even know what records you hold for the state team, all I care is the U19 team which needs rock solid strength in team XI to build a strong feature. Whatever you have done, it is 'You have done' and not 'You did now!'. You would need to understand that, everyone starts from scratch to fight for the team and don't go by hall of pride that they have maintained in their state level. To my eyes, all are equal and the best !

<< I started sweating in such a cold temperature conditions, I started feeling nervous that I spoiled the moment >>

Suren : Well, Sorry Coach. I will continue my hard working skills and await for the opportunity to prove myself. Sorry Arun if I have told anything wrong.

<< Just turned too defensive, almost throwing away my opportunity to ask for a chance but glad that I apologies as I was able to feel that heat in Arun's face. >>

Well, I really don't know what happened between Zol & Arun after the match but I just stayed quiet and did the regular net practice for the next match against Zimbabwe. To my surprise, Zol informed me to avoid extended nets session due to me playing in team XI for the match against Zimbabwe and it was supposed to be day/night game @ Marrara Cricket Ground in same Darwin. This really made me to feel excited about the game.

Match 3 - India 19 Vs Zimbabwe U19, Suren Ram at number 6​

Though I looked forward very much to open the innings, I was glad that I am in team XI with positive signs around me...​

With Indian captain winning the toss against Zimbabwe, he decided to choose bat first which was understandable as conditions on this ground looked completely different from what we witness on Power Park ground against Aussies. Infact, this looked like batting paradise and I got so excited to prove my opportunity.

To everyone's suprise, we lost both Herwadkar and Khajuriya back to back without scoring and team was in trouble with 11/2 when these 2 got dismissed. I was so surprised and I got motivated even further thinking that it would be a good chance to stay for longer period accelerating the scorecard. I was patting the players' shoulders in dressing room and was cheering for the first time with true excitement in this series. However, Zol and Bains constructed a solid platform of 140+ runs partnership after which Bains got dismissed. I was just one more wicket away to go and bat for my dreams to turn true. It was Hooda who was sent in at number 5, although I looked at Arun's face to see whether he wants me to go ahead of Hooda.

Things turned completely otherway after Hooda joined Zol. They started off slowly with singles and doubles, but they kept constructing solid partnership and took the score to a dominating one. We witness all fireworks after 40 overs.

Suren Ram did GET a CHANCE but FACED 0 Balls!​

Nothing to say, it is just MY FATE!​

It was 49th over which Hooda got dismissed by a run out. Zol was facing 48.5 overs, and I was anticipating Zol to hit a boundary & atleast face my first ball in the last over. But things turned against what I wished and what I thought, Zol took over the strike and completed the 50th over by himself with we finishing off the innings at dominant score of 344/4 in 50 overs.

I was completely disappointed that I did not get my opportunity yet, though I am in team XI. Probably, I should have volunteered to go high in the order or I should have shown confidence in dressing room for letting them to send me higher up the order? Well, nothing can reverse the time. Things are done & nothing can change it back.

India won the first Match of Warney Tendulkar Series​

Team celebrated, I still kept QUIET..​

Like expected, this turned out to be a batting paradise but our bowlers displayed an excellent show in managing to keep Zimbabwe within 300 and thereby reaching the victory margin of 55 runs. Everyone in our dressing room was so relieved to register the first win on Aussieland, however I just stayed silent and my hunger to prove myself increased further!

Current Status of Warney Tendulkar Series :

• AustraliaU19 Vs ZimbabeU19, Match 1 - Aus defeated Zimbabe by 10 wickets.
• IndiaU19 Vs AustrailaU19, Match 2 - Aus defeated India by 18 Runs.
• India U19 Vs Zimbabe U19, Match 3 - India defeated Zimbabe by 55 Runs

Battle.. Battle.. Battle.. Took so much fights to get into Team XI ONLY to play ZERO DELIVERIES? Excellent, My battle still continues...
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[Samuels]

The better way to ask was like, 'Hi skip, could we have some miniature super soppers? Thought I would tell you I will be using icebags during the next match'.

Please correct your player name, Suren.

 

[Aravind.]

Once again a great update hoping for more

 

[surendar]

Once again a great update hoping for more

Nice story

Thank you Guys, very much appreciated.

Realistic update once again bro these type of things happened to many cricketers especially in india.Hope ram comes out of it with the help of his captain/management.

Yes Arun, have read various articles on our domestic structure and how players merge to INTL, and I should say that we do have lot of potential young players who were not groomed in a right way and there were some undeserved players who made their way to the team. It is only now that IPL has given some options for selections, but those days Mumbai players somehow had higher hand.

Your name kind of has negative role in this story as of now. Needless to mention, it might turn out to be a great role in this story

Have to agree with prithvi

Now coming to the story..Its not looking very good for Suren at the moment//Another twist...that conversation about Seth..All in all,it'll go well as far as how it is shaping up...First of all,just make the dumb coach understand that he needs to trust in players rather than keeping them on Benches

Haha, Arun - I should admit that, I have the script planned for him already. Hope you people would like it. The script is actually based on my real experience with my management, although IT is different from a sport sector. I am just trying to convert my few IT experiences into a cricket style. Thats it.

One more match without you will be a wee bit too much since you are the star of the story. I am taking that India wants to give second string players more chances to gain experience and that is why we have not seen the likes of Baba Aparajith, Mohsin Sayyed, Sanju Samson, Askhar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Armaan Jaffer in the squad.

The better way to ask was like, 'Hi skip, could we have some miniature super soppers? Thought I would tell you I will be using icebags during the next match'.

Please correct your player name, Suren.

hahaha, Yea sure thing. You know, after changing his display name to 'Suren', that chap really got a chance into team XI. May be 'Suren Ram' is not lucky? and 'Suren' is lucky? Just kidding, will edit the name in my PE.

Thank you everyone for keeping me motivated to come back and continue everytime. You readers are the real motivation factor behind this story. Also wanted to let you know that, I am playing and updating in the free time only. So you might not see updates frequently but you would definitely see this going on. I was occupied the whole last month for Holidays season with my work commitments for 24*7 support of Walmart. So Yeah.

That is one of the main reasons, I added date to the title which would be easy for everyone to know the last updated timestamp. Thank you guys for the feedback/views.

 

[RPHKR]

Very good update Suren. I liked the way you write your script. It's interesting.