The Conversation - The need for Speed!!

My first recollection of Aashish was this young man with all the usual swagger and smarts anyone his age would have. Of course he was highly respectful calling folks like Hari and CP, " Uncle" . I remember warning him that he better not try to pull that stunt on me due to my virility and vigour. 

In the early days he was probably a reluctant player at best thinking these old men wont have a chance against him. But then come Covid, we all needed some let out and Aashish soon became a part of Palladian maidaan folklore. 

With a run up starting from the boundary, he could crank it up and I still fondly remember the delivery that got me to surgery in 2 days. Should I thank him for it? I probably should. 

I enjoyed this one with Aashish. He is a true team man, always clued in and loves hanging out with us boys. Looking forward to a great season ahead where the "BIG GAME" shines right through and through.. 

1. You are back as captain for Season 15. What are your first impressions about your team?

We've got a great bunch of guys who play every weekend so if the captains get a good balance on both teams while splitting, we have an amazing few months ahead of us. 

As for my team, as long as I keep the problem child (Arjun) quiet and not cause a civil war, I think we're on to win the whole season 😅

2. It's good to see you back bowling again. We all know what a potent weapon you were. How do you feel now and more importantly what went through your mind in those seasons where you were unable to bowl? 

Going through a serious injury and more so a surgery is always hard especially when you're sidelined for a couple of months and handicapped on the field for the next few months. I thought not bowling my batting would level up but the exact opposite happened where I'm searching for runs and instead have given my old form to the father.

But the end of last season felt great coming back to some good pace bowling and fingers-crossed it only gets better from here and I can graze some chins this time around.

3. Dad's been in scintillating form of late. So does he still have bragging rights at home? 

Let me get this straight, while he was struggling for form, even at the start of last season, I was watching as the umpire and changing how he plays and brought him back to his old best self so can you really brag to your coach? I think not 😂

But yeah it's great to see him back and confident in hitting those switch-hits

More of that this season and I'd be happy to bow down to the king

4. So what was the backstory with Pranav. Clearly there was something but I am sure folks would love to learn more. 

Pranav is extremely competitive and even really hard on himself all the time so when he gets hit he tends to look down on the batsman or the shots and I hear these things as he's walking back to his bowling mark so when he was batting I said somethings I admittedly shouldn't have, stupid on me to talk-back to a kid and we've apologised to eachother since that incident.

Now that we're on the same team, Hari will be getting some from both of us 

5. Your team this season has all the troublemakers and pranksters. How do you plan to manage that? 

I feel like the main group is going to be very dry this season with all the banter being one-sided and I hope this doesn't make our team turn on themselves for some entertainment 

I'm thinking of sending the hurricanes for some classes on how to take on bullies and some of them even to cricket coaching

6. Hari, Sameer or HK as keeper when you bowl? Or someone else? 

Spoilt for choice, except Sameer of course.

No they're all great, amazing reflexes, if I had to choose between the three while I bowl it'd be Hari keeping, HK at long-on and Sameer in the corner behind the goalpost 😗💨