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Vinod Nair '97 Mech (Captain CETA Cricket team) in conversation with Shyam Prasanth '05 Civil |
captain speaks.... |
S: Congratulations on your team's recent victory in KERA competitions. V: Thank You. |
S: Why not an year round affair? V: Yes. Definitely we should have. As for cricket , we can have inter CETA matches once in every two or three months. This would help us locate potential players and groom them. The problem with many of our players is that they play once in a blue moon. By playing frequent matches (even among ourselves) we could study each other and formulate a strategy for tournaments. |
Vinod Nair played University level Cricket for 7 yearrs out of which he led the Kerala University team for 2 years. Also represented South Indian University Cricket Team. Currently working as in PA Middle East, Dubai as MEP project engineer. |
S: Can you please explain the kind of preparations you and your team had for this tournament? |
V: A couple of days before the tournament started, Deepu rang me up to say that we don't have a full team of 11 players! To be frank, I wasn't involved in the organizing aspects of the game. I would give full credit to Deepu and Sooraj for formulating the team. They did a good job of assembling a team and presenting it for the tournament. My contribution starts only a few days before any tournament. |
We meet during a tournament , play some good or bad matches and disperse. That's it until next year. In the absence of player exposure, we are not able to judge each other and accommodate each other's style. We are not even able to decide order of playing. |
S: What do you expect from CETA as an organisation? |
V: We have been getting good support from office bearers of CETA. Especially I Have to highlight the fact that this year ground support from non players helped us enormously. It had a very good impact in boosting our morale. As I said earlier, I feel CETA should organize more inter CETA matches eg: A few 'six a side' matches can be played on any of the Fridays. May be once every 2 or 3 months. Batch wise or area (shj/ abd/dxb) wise teams could be formed. Even children of CETians could be involved. This would help us locate and groom good players. |
S: That was a very good suggestion. Can you please tell us how is the chemistry among players working out? |
V: Teamwork is what moves us ahead. All are willing to agree on decisions. For example during the finals, it was my decision to go for bowling. Deepu was preparing to bat but once I expressed my decision, all agreed. Sooraj, our strike bowler immediately agreed to bowl even though there was early morning dew. If there is any dispute at that stage, it would have been a disaster. Sooraj and Biju went on to bowl and together we won the match. Every one had their inputs. But all are willing to listen . |
Each one of us managed his part perfectly. I would like to highlight another incident. During the KERA semi finals, I personally spoiled what was turning out to be a winnable game. We needed 25 runs to win but I played a careless shot and the course of the match turned bad. Had we lost that game, I would have been 100% responsible !But Reji ,Biju and all those who came after me to bat played excellently (under pressure situation) and won the game. |
S: Apart from the regular players like Deepu, Sooraj etc, could you name those players who performed well? V: Shahul Hameed - he is an excellent player. I never knew about him. But we came to know of his caliber only after he started playing in the tournament. Even Salahudin. Nikhil. He played even last year but his caliber in both bowling and batting was exhibited only this year. Subin - His last spell in the final match was excellent. Bala was strike player of REC and Subin got him with his return cartch. Players like Reji.. I cant leave any one out. All 11 players rose to the occasion. |
S: What do you think of alumni colleges using the services of outsiders in inter alumni tournaments? V: Look, here we have 2 aspects. If the stress is on Cricket , then we should have outsiders. But if the stress is on CETA gathering, participation and overall spirit of the college, we should have ONLY CETians in our team for major tournaments. |
S: If you were to decide? V: Vinod cant decide. Its for CETA to decide. Vinod is part of CETA. I cant decide on my own. |
S: Can you suggest ways to improve the standards of our players so that we can move ahead with a truly CETA team? V: For AKCAF tournaments, the kind of preparations and team structure we had for KERA wouldn't be enough. When we talk of AKCAF tournaments, we should remember that we are competing against Renji players. We should have at least those standards of a district level team. For this net practices alone wouldn't suffice. Most of the players wouldnt be able to attend nets due to many preoccupations. As I said , more matches should be played among us. We should study our players and chart strategy. These matches need not be using cricket balls. Not all are professional players. After several rounds of matches and further scrutiny of players, we take 25 players and train them further. Out of these we should target a team of 11 or more and train aggressively. |
S: Could you recollect any regrettable match in recent times? V: 2 yrs ago we lost to MACE in KERA tournament. We were in a position of 1 run to win the match. We scored to tie but ultimately lost the match! S: Best game ever in recent times? V: KERA finals 2008. It was a convincing victory achieved out of team work. |
S: How do you rate our team among other KERA teams? V: 3rd position. I would rate TRACE as 1st . REC is 2nd. We lack a professional approach to the game. S: Do you play for other teams here in UAE? V: Yes. Been playing for ETA. Now I am playing for Transgulf team. |
S: You have been a very active player during your school / college days. Don't you think you could have achieved greater heights as a cricketer, if you had decided to stay back in Kerala? V: May be. But I still maintain my passion for the game. It is worth mentioning that I got a central Govt job in AG's office even while I was in 6th semester. I took leave to finish my course. Now when I see Rohan and Raiphi being selected to Rajasthan Royals team, it gives me great pleasure. Along with Mr. Sreekumar, I trained Rohan during his early days in St. Joseph's Academy. |
S: Didn't you have an accident while playing? V: Yes. 2 yrs back. I played without proper protection and because of the injury, I temporarily lost my ability to speak! I suffered a lot because of that. Nowadays I use helmet to the last ball, even if its by a spinner! |
S: How long will you keep playing? V: As long as I can run. Nowadays this is the only " shareeram anangal" activity and I cant stop that! S: We wish you and your team success ! V: Thank You. |
ceta winners |
ninavu 1.3 |