The Conversation - The HAL prince

Bipin can be considered one of our omnipresent founding fathers of maidaan cricket. Always present , always absent, always somewhere around. Apart from his quirky humour and being the three time FOTY winner , Bipin is also an earnest cricketer. When he focuses on his batting he can smoke them like DreRuss and when he fields you almost worry how many bones he might be cracking. 

But he is always your quintessential team man. And now international floater par excellence. 

1. How does one define Bipin the cricketer? 

I think the tagline summarises me most accurately. See ball hit ball.. It used to be the perfect weekend fix.. 4 hours of pure fun over the weekend with a group of fantastic committed “boys”..

2. What do you miss most about the maidaan games now that you are in Singapore? 

Each and every one at the maidaana brings something to the field and everyone gives it their best. I miss the enthusiasm and the banter the most.. some of the most memorable moments  in the maidaana have been the back and forth between teams and players.. too many memories..

3. You seem to have a very nonchalant attitude towards the game. However you are always vested in the going ons . Would you like to set the narrative right? 

What really amazes me is how a group of 40 & 50+ act like children for the 3 hours on Saturday and Sunday every week.. this is the kind of tabloid gossip from the maidaana that keeps me invested.. my performance at the cricket pitch is hardly 5 or 10 deliveries at the most.. rest of the time, it’s the non cricket stuff that keeps me going.. I used to love the match summary documented by Ak sir, yourself and others. Now the match report is like reading somebody’s boring thesis.. bring the juicy gossip back..

4. Please prioritise the following: ( 10 is most important ) 

    i. Taking kids for tennis 

    ii. Visiting HAL market 

    iii. Walking with family, doing some irrelevant trek 

    iv. working for TCS 

Visiting HAL market beats anything else by a large margin.. it used be a very tough call between HAL market and coming on time for cricket.. guess which one eventually won😂

You can put everything else in any order. Everything else pales in comparison. Btw, if my wife and kids hear of my answer, I  hope there is a guest room in your home for a permanent resident…

5. Your laugh is legendary and what makes it even more memorable is that it sounds the same when you are winning or losing. How do you do that ?

It has become much easier since I became a floater and now a super floater.. while winning does matter, I enjoy the game and try not to take it seriously and I guess it shows in my laugh.. 

6. If you need to chosen one person to save on a sinking boat, would you choose Vikram or Satya. Give your reasons for the same.

This is a tough one.. given a choice, I would say good riddance and let both of them sink but if I have to make a choice, then i guess it would  have to be Satya.. Sethi’s golden years are behind him and his contribution to society in general is going to be minuscule here on #Dhartipebhoj..