India won the World Cup to our immense joy on Saturday, the 2nd of April 2011. The Marina in Chennai at midnight was jam packed. Parties all over the city (and nation) went well into the night. It was a sin if you slept before 2 am! Inspite of all this there were this manic few who managed to get up early on the morning of Sunday, the 3rd of April 2011 and make it to BPL! BPL? Is it the Barclays Premier League? Oh no! It is the Bhumi Premier League, the cricket tournament held between the volunteers of various projects of Bhumi!
With a week's notice time, each of the four teaching projects of Bhumi came up with a team and a team name. The Dynamites from Dronacharya and Eklavya (DnE), the Kalakkal Kanini team, the GhiLE from the Little Einsteins (LE) and the MAD Madrasters XI were all set for the biggest cricket extravaganza of Bhumi! The Kalakkals and the Dynamites were the most punctual teams in that order and hence were blessed to play the first match when the sun was just about rising!
The first match proved to be an absolute run feast with the Dynamites sending the Kalakkals on a leather hunt. With a stiff target oh 120+ in 8 overs at hand, the Kalakkal Kanini went about their chase nonchalantly. Just when we thought the Kalakkals will be the runaway winners, a final over come back by Dynamites meant the game was tied and a super over was called for. It proved second time lucky for Kanini as they emerged winners!
Conversely, the second match witnessed some disciplined bowling from both GhiLE and MADrasters XI. MADrasters, batting first, set a modest target of 85 in 8 overs. The chase by GhiLE started of sluggishly, but picked up momentum past the halfway mark in their innings. With 11 required of the last 2 balls, two stunning sixes proved to be the clincher in this humdinger.
While the boys sweated it out in the sun, the girls split themselves to prepare refreshments and also cheer the teams on! The refreshments included the standard bread butter jam, fruit juices and a certain special drink which no one knows the name for. The drink's recipe was rumoured to have been trashed as soon as the drink was made. Nevertheless, most of us had second helpings and enjoyed it. Moving on, the finals between GhiLE and Kalakkal Kanini turned out to be a one sided affair. GhiLE with its continued disciplined bowling restricted Kalakkals to a modest score of 70 and knocked off the same with an over to spare and emerged comfortable winners of BPL. The biggest winners though were the HR team that put together this gala event which turned out to be a wonderful get together for the hard working volunteers. Three cheers to them!!!
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