When anyone asks me where I'm from, I say:

Mumbai is the most special city in the world for me. It has defined me in two of the biggest phases of my life. My early adult years in college (which you may have read briefly about in my third article) and my mid-20s when I took up a dream job with a leading media firm, OML Entertainment.

14/07/2017

I left Dubai for Mumbai with a one-way ticket. Leaving behind my family, my girlfriend, my cricket teammates, my entire life, basically.

If I felt breaking into the cricket circuit in Dubai was tough, Mumbai had something totally different in store for me. Cricket lives in the DNA of this city.

2017 - 2018:

As soon as the monsoons ended, I joined a net practice facility in Santa Cruz, Mumbai Cricket Club (MCC),

I trained there on weekends but couldn't get any games because most clubs played their games on weekdays as all major grounds were booked by Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) during the weekends.

After a couple of months with MCC, the lack of game time was getting to me. I came across a platform called 'Sportsjig', which kickstarted my cricket journey in many ways. I joined a team called "Khar Knights". I played one game and then couldn't resume because I had to travel for personal reasons. They rightly dropped me from the squad due to unavailability.

2018-2019: 2018 cricket started when I joined Mumbai Masters Premier League (MMPL), the worst tournament of my life. The venue was "Mumbai Police Gymkhana", situated at the heart of Marine Drive. This was primarily a tournament meant for players above 33 years of age, with 2 youngsters allowed per team. I played for a team called "Bandra Busters". The partiality of what I witnessed next quickly diminished the excitement of playing at an iconic ground in Mumbai as leadership provided all the elder players with endless opportunities. When I stood my ground and fought with the older guys, I was cornered and bullied. After multiple fights, I was given an opportunity, but I couldn't cope with the pressure of the whole team rooting for me to fail. I made 22(32) and 12(11) in the two games I got to bat; I was a filler for the rest of the games.

My first work trip came at the perfect time, right after this tournament. After returning I joined another 'Sportsjig' tournament with the team "Chembur Chargers". Over here, I met many lads who became my greatest teammates and friends. Ananth and Mayur Tare were leading this squad. We lost 3 out of 3 games, but I truly felt like I had found my team here. The dressing room environment was always encouraging, and the banter was on point.

Chembur Chargers was the seed that led to the plantation of BBMM (Bombay Blitzers and Mumbai Mustangs). With the Sportsjig night tournament done in April, we realized that they were ripping us off. Charging 3-4 times the ground fees. We took things into our own hands, and a bunch of the lads started BBMM (Bombay Blitzers and Mumbai Mustangs). Two squads under one umbrella. I was drafted under the Mumbai Mustangs lot.

Stay tuned to find out what happens next. Do the cricketing gods finally cut me some slack? Do I understand my mind better, or do failures end up piling like baggage? One on top of the other, heavier with every passing experience.