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2018-2019

With the monsoons approaching, we spent every Saturday and Sunday morning, 5:30 am - 7:30 am, at an indoor nets facility, despite the rains and floods. This place was a part of my routine till my time in Mumbai. I've spent endless hours over here on the bowling machine, sometimes after work. It was my proudest feeling to avoid Friday night drinks because of Saturday morning nets.

With the season approaching in September, I had a packed work led travel schedule across the world, and to be honest, I couldn't care at all about cricket at this point. I was living the dream, career-wise. I was available for games only when I wasn't travelling, due to which I never was a regular starter for the MM squad. I can't complain.

The worst thing about Mumbai is the commute. You'd spend two hours each way despite the distance being only 25-26 km. Belapur 40+ was our home ground. Imagine going from Andheri to Navi Mumbai and back, and boom, your weekend is over. I had a few memorable innings, a couple of 40s, countless 20s. The strike rate issue still prevailed. 2019:

I scored my first 50 as a guest player for a team from Ghatkopar. I opened and made 54(31). But no one in the dressing room told me the score and gave me that one moment I was craving for, lifting your bat after a landmark score. I had failed so much I was desperate for that one moment. When I came back to the dressing room, I'd assumed I was in my 40s, but after seeing the scorecard, I was gutted. I'd have to wait for god knows how much longer to experience it.

Barring that one special inning, I'd spend my entire week thinking about how I failed and go on and fail the following week again. The law of attraction where all I kept thinking about was the past led me to fail again in the future.

When you fail, it's hard to relax and analyze what's going wrong. You keep doing the same thing again and again, stuck in an endless loop. I joined a couple of other clubs around that time because playing more cricket would help me get better. They say "action" leads to results; I don't entirely agree. Sometimes, inaction is what is required.

Titans and Spartans were two other clubs I joined. I had a glorious start with the Titans with a silver duck 0(2), and despite playing multiple games with them across the country, the highest I made for them was about 17 odd. I did my first couple of cricket tours, travelling to Pune, Bangalore and Rajasthan to play cricket. I truly felt I was living the dream, taking flights, staying in hotels, visiting grounds in a team bus. However, my performances on the field were very disappointing. Failure would be an understatement. Titans, to date, is the club with the greatest cricket culture I have ever come across—credit to Abhimanyu Khanna (Khanni) for building what he did with Titans. I see many guys in their 30s and 40s, tight as brothers, drinking together, celebrating their weddings/birthdays, a proper team environment on and off the field unlike any other that I have experienced.

Spartans was the team that backed me the most. I must have played 8-10 games for them, but my scores never surpassed 30-35. But I'd like to thank Prasheel, Karan and the entire Spartans squad for always allowing me to express myself. I truly enjoyed my head space the most with this lot.

There was a period where I hated being on the cricket field. I was there just for the sake of it. The baggage of failure got so heavy, the joy of the game had gone. I felt I was fighting a losing battle, and my failures genuinely messed up my mental health. I was away from my family and loved ones for over two years around this time, and I felt it was time to go back home to Dubai.

The early morning Dharavi net sessions, post nets breakfast with in-depth analysis of India's team selection process by our man Sheetal, our Belapur games, the late-night bowling machine sessions, the tours with Titans, the post-game banter with Spartans are some of my finest cricketing memories in India.

I want to thank each and everyone I have ever played with in Mumbai to help me learn and grow. I made more friendships and memories than runs, and at the end of it, that's all that matters. In December 2019, I decided to move back to Dubai. I was so detached from cricket during my last phase in Mumbai; I just needed to be around my family. Throughout my time in India, I kept following the AE squads success, and it was amazing to see how far the team had gotten. With 2020 and a possible ACL -6 around the corner, it was time to reunite with the Eagles.

Stay tuned to find out how we managed cricket amidst the pandemic and how I marked my return to the Dubai cricket scene. But before that, "A Letter To God".