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Hindi film music was blaring from a set of oversized speakers, as a festive throng of supporters danced, and partied and urged their team on in the 2003 Massachusetts Cricket League International Tournament finals. But wait, it was the supporters of Trinidad and Tobago, rooting against Team India. Such is the influence and reach of Bollywood!

Of course, the members of Team India did not mind the choice of music, other than the occasional inability to think, given the sheer volume generated by the speakers. In fact, most of Team India players might have considered themselves lucky to be there in the finals, given the start of the season, being soundly beaten by Jamica by an astounding margin of 119 runs. A no-show by defending champions Windward Island preceded a narrow win over Guyana by dint of 5/20 and 4/25 bowling spells by Vinay and Fazal. This was followed by a close loss to Trinidad and Tobago by 1 wicket, during which Team India played an excellent game of hot-potato, dropping upwards of 10 catches. At this point, the chances of reaching the finals appeared bleak. However, two excellent wins in September reversed the fortunes. First, Leeward Island was dispatched comfortably by 135 runs, based on a typically belligerent 117 by skipper Fazal and aided by 40 runs by Ramas and a 5/29 effort by Vijay, who had taken up the responsibility of managing Team India for this season. So Team India went into the final regular season game against Barbados, with the winner of the game guaranteed a spot in the final, with the loser ending their season. As expected, the game was intense, with both sides leaving everything on the field. In spite of effective and economic bowling by Fazal, Sameer (Guliani) and Vinay, Barbados managed to score 215. For once, the top order of Team India batted with poise and launching off a 66 run opening partnership between Vasu and Basu (and no, contrary to published reports, they are decidedly not twins), Team India went on to win by 6 wickets with almost 10 overs to spare. The highlights of this inning was a sparkling 73 by Vasu, and a highly entertaining 57 not out by skipper Fazal, six of which came from an incredible lofted off drive off Jordon, that put the lives of several cars parked outside of Almont Park in severe danger. So it was off to face Trinidad and Tobago in the International Finals, to avenge the 1 wicket regular season loss.

The morning of the finals began with heavy fog lingering over the field, and an unmistakable chill of Fall in the air. Luckily, conditions were good enough to start the game with minimal delay. There was some discussion amongst members of Team India, whether to bat on bowl, in case the toss was won. However, skipper Fazal had his mind already made up, and did not hesitate to bat when he called the coin toss correctly.

Team India’s inning began slowly, and somewhat laboriously, with both T&T opening bowlers, Allen and Dass, finding an excellent line and length as well as movement in the air. In his first few overs, Allen looked especially sharp, pitching the ball just short of a length with plenty of swing, and was soon rewarded with Basu’s wicket, as the ball swung through the gap between bat and pad to rattle the timber. Amazingly, just as Ramas walked in at one-drop, out came the sun and the mist evaporated. The stroke making also brightened up almost immediately. Ramas began by dispatching some of those just short of length deliveries from Allen through midwicket, while Vasu began stroking fluently all around the wicket in his own inimitable style. The pair took the score to a hundred, and Team India had the upper hand, before Ramas fell after scoring exactly 50 off 39 balls. In walked Fazal, and as expected, the scoring rate did not dip. Just when Team India looked well on the way to a huge total, Vasu fell after making an attractive 67 and Fazal ran himself out for 22. All of a sudden, Team India had gone from 100/1 to 148/4. Luckily, there was fine rearguard action by Nataraj (18) and Vinay (39), both scoring slowly but steadily as the situation demanded. Some late inning hitting by Sameer (Masurkar) saw Team India score 228 in exactly 50 overs, a decent and defendable total, but certainly less than what was expected when Vasu and Ramas were clobbering the bowling to all corners of the field.

During the innings break, skipper Fazal donned his customary Michael Jackson fashion accessory, the white glove (non-sequined batting inners in this case) on left hand; presumably to protect a torn webbing that had required several stitches sustained in a game a couple of weeks back. Right before it was time to go in, Fazal called a huddle of the players to deliver his pep talk. Standing in the huddle, everyone had a sense that the group looked somewhat depleted, a suspicion confirmed by a quick head count. Indeed, there were only 8 players, and it was time to go in! It turns out that Ramas, Vasu and Suhas has succumbed to the entreaties of their hungry stomachs and had gone off in search of a nourishing pizza. Luckily Fazal was quickly able to avail of the services of three supporters, including Ashish who was scoring, while Basu donned the wicket keeping gloves in place of Ramas. Thankfully, the three missing players returned, presumably satiated, before the end of the second over.

Team India began very impressively. Both Sameers (Masurkar and Guliani) kept the T&T batsmen in check, Masurkar by swinging express deliveries into the toes of the batsmen, and Guliani maintaining a nagging line and length just outside the off stump. Before you knew it, T&T was 39/3, with Masurkar bagging Small and Guliani getting Renaud and Rampersaud. There was no respite for the bastmen, as the first and second change bowlers, Fazal and Vinay kept the pressure up, giving no loose deliveries. Even more amazing was that unlike the first game between the two teams, Team India was actually taking their catches, with Vijay and Suhas holding onto two sharp chances. Speaking of fielding, Mohan was doing his usual Jonty impersonation, swooping in like a hawk to scoop up anything even remotely in his vicinity. Fazal had rival skipper Robin caught by the keeper, and Katintkar bowled Malcolm, while Mohan made an accurate throw to the bowler to run out Sudama, and T&T was 72/6 and India appeared to be well on the way to a comfortable victory.

Enter Andre and Everton, cricket’s version of the Bash Brothers. They started slowly, content to push the ball around for ones and twos. When the bowlers made mistakes, they swung their massive forearms and the ball sailed over the boundary. The bowlers for Team India started losing their tight grip, and slowly but surely, Andre and Everton started to dominate. The T&T supporters came to life, the music was cranked on, and Everton began to whirl his bat over his head like a Samurai to the beat of the music, as the bowlers ran in. The Indian fielding began to wilt, and the old bad habits of dropped catches and misfields began to compound the problem, much to the frustration of skipper Fazal. The pair almost doubled the score to 140, when Andre unnecessarily ran himself out, with Ramas reacting quickly to take off his gloves and throwing down the wicket. In walked Hanif, perhaps the most dangerous batsman in the team, and skipper Fazal knew instinctively that if this pair was broken early, Team India would win. Luckily for India, Hanif was not in best form on this day, and the usual fluency of his strokes was missing. Regardless, when Hanif drove the ball high into the air off Vasu, you could see the tension in Fazal’s face as he waited under the rapidly descending ball, and his elation after making the catch after which he threw the ball backwards over his head. As everyone in the field knew, that there was the game. Everton tried to carry on the good work, but fell soon to a catch by Vijay off Vasu. The tail folded without much additional resistance, and when Fazal knocked down Tom Dass’s stumps it was all over. Trinidad and Tobago were all out for 168 and Team India had triumphed by a comfortable margin of 60 runs.

After exchanging a few high-fives and taking some team pictures, it was time to go to the Unity Sports Club for dinner. Soon, most of Team India players were at the Club, but where were the T&T players? They were happily drowning a few more beers in the after-game party on the field. Soon they all trooped in and both teams shared some fun, laughter, food and more than a few drinks. The T&T players conceded that although the two teams were fairly evenly matched, a much tighter fielding performance by Team India in cutting off singles and making the T&T batsmen work harder, ultimately made the difference. The attacking batting of Vasu and Ramas was crucial, while all 5 Team India bowlers chipped in with wickets led by a 2/19 performance by Fazal.

So there it was, India’s second win in three years, making Team India the only two-time winner since the International Tournament started. Kudos to Vijay for managing the team, to Fazal for ably leading it and to players from various team, all of whom came through with critical performances at various times. All that is left to say as the season comes to a close is that next season cannot arrive soon enough.