Hello Cricket Lovers, welcome to DRS Dressing Room Stories with RJ, where the crease meets the candidate. I'm your host and cricket enthusiast. For the first episode of DRS, we have two individuals who are extremely passionate about the game.
Join me in welcoming Vinay Avasti, the captain of Drizzles team and Rohit Jain, no matter who has been the captain, he is unofficially the captain of all the teams. The first episode of DRS with RJ, dressing room stories. Patti and Patti You are commonly called Your bonding is so good How does it feel when people call you Ganda Hinti and Patti Patti Vinay?
Yeah, husband and wife, this shows the bonding between us. It's not over the ground, it's beyond the ground. The bonding between us and the way we are called husband and wife, it feels good.
There is a friend who is going out of the family to the family name. It's a matter of love. In this age, in this new community, It is very difficult to have such a good friendship in two years.
And what everyone sees, it feels very good. And this has been given to us by one of our Vishwanath? Vinay.
So that is something which is good. I'll tell you a small story or a small insight about it. We, when I was like coming as you're saying two years I was when I was coming here I never thought I'll be having any friend here because because I have passed that you know young age exactly at 20s 20 early 20s I passed in college life school life I always thought that you know I can make friends good friends when I when I'm in school or college so I had this you know blockage in my mind that I'll go there it is good for my kids it is good for my you know family but not probably for me but then when when I came here it is all about you know having the similar vibes with each other see you know Rahul we have a lot of people here from our community or our native but I still don't connect with them probably more then you don't feel connected yeah it is not about me and Vinay it is about eight of us eight nine of us am I part of that eight nine you are always there no I'm just saying you know it's more you know We have started from beginning I think 6 when I came here as we have started playing cricket. So from there we started and then the bonding keep on increased and obviously our families are also in touch.
So it's good to have this bonding and these banters are always making things more interesting within us when we have our conversations. And for my viewers, we three are from the famous Tower One, three good cricket players that you can find in any tower. right yeah absolutely so we will move on and i i can only wish that this bonding continues for a longer duration because foreign foreign Rome didn't take bias that why did he say this and why did he say that. In today's cricket, you have to think before saying something. Exactly.
If not, it's a good reason. No, it's very good. As I said, it just continues and we hope many more years. Yeah, many more years. Unless we buy a new house and go to another community, right?
Yeah. Alright, so moving on to the next question, more cricket-focused question. In season 1, your team was at the bottom of the table initially and you came back very strong.
strongly you won the cup this time I feel a little bit confused schedule one was a little off and first match of season two I mean Vinay what you played was absolutely brilliant right 23 of 24 team went to 63 super score what happened yesterday 16 runs was it a bit of overconfidence in terms of you played so good or you took the team very lightly thinking that nahi yaar ho jayega. So if you ask me Rahul, see I always feel that I always keep on telling them also you know that you know we are we are in a season which is very large you know 15 15 odd matches we'll be playing so trust me we cannot win everything. We cannot lose everything, we cannot win everything but as far as this team which we have made, you know, as far as concern of this team, trust me, I still feel we are a good bunch of people and we are good enough people to be in the place. and I am very much confident still that we will be in playoffs. There are matches, see one more thing, we have felt Rahul that, see this is last season also, we were always In last season also we had a lowest score of 90. But we had a highest score of 70. So, batting has that neck of doing different things.
And I think, whatever the ground is, anything can happen. No matter how good your team is, few mistakes and you're out. And I think that's what we've been seeing in some of the matches so far in season 2. And in fact, last season, I don't remember the team name, but the team led by Rajesh and later Vinay Bhatt, they played incredibly good. Right. And in the last season, they played incredibly good.
And in final, I mean, things didn't go their way, right? Eventually, you guys... That is ultimately a day of cricket. A day of cricket.
The day we play well, we win. Yesterday's game, definitely, there's no doubt about it that we were outplayed by them and we were not playing... We have not batted well at all. Exactly. Not even a single person to be very bad.
But I feel, when I was... I did not watch the match but I was following the scorecard, right? After 10-15 runs on your score, I think...
it would have been a tough fight because they lost almost five wickets. I don't think so, Raghav. No?
I don't think so. This is just a hindsight thing. I don't think so.
I think, you know, when we entered to, you know, feel in the second inning when we entered in the ground, I personally told these guys that was if we lose this game in two to three hours, we have to go down with our heads down. Correct. Let's fight. Let us keep... If we are winning this game, it's a magic.
Exactly. So it is not... We cannot.
But it's a magic. But leave that aside. We have to take this game to up to at least 6-7 overs.
You took 5 wickets, right? To retain our run rate. Which will help us in two ways.
One is run rate. Second is probably we can just... When we go out of this ground, we will be having our head side.
That was we have fought with all the spirits. So that was a thought. But trust me Rahul, we will come back strong. There are a lot of matches.
We will come back strong. you need a bare minimum to set a good run. If you made 35 runs, 33, 32, something, chances are there, 18 chances are there that you can through the match. Because I think the batting flow for this round is unpredictable.
You can't think about what will happen, who will score, how much can someone score. Because in your last match's batting, you played brilliantly like I said, Subhas gave you a good run. gave a good starting opening and later Manoj what he did I mean turned around right and like you said anything can happen. One or two batsmen clicked. See people keep on telling us in this season that you are missing Naren, you are missing Amit.
I personally don't feel that we are missing them because see I have to say that Vishwanath and when I have done a tremendous job in the in the auction because we were always knowing that we will not be having the entire team of last season. So what we have thought is that in place of Naren, Naren has always you know Naren was already gone for us because he was the vice captain. So what we have thought that we need to strengthen our betting. Bowling is still we can manage. So we have strengthened our betting.
If you see you know we have taken Subhas, he was on our list and then we have taken Brijwan. All these are bettors only Pranav. They are not bowlers.
It's just that not able to click on a particular day is where I think that is happening and I think it's a process. Lot of matches to go right and things can go. We are still not even in the middle of the season.
Correct. More than 50% match is still going on. Follow up question to Vinay. During the auction, you almost lost Rohit. Because everyone thought that the way Stormz team had made the strategy for them, which I think is a fair strategy.
I mean it's in the spirit of the game, right? that he inflated all the players but eventually they made sure that they knew their 11 players whom they wanted to select. He went up to I think about 30,000? 34,000.
He came up to 30,000 and then he stopped. But at that time, Vinay, what was going on in your mind? Were you ready to go all out for Rohit or did you have a cap?
Rohit will stay till 30,000 so we'll take him or we have to think about something else. Rohit Klippud. We decided that we have to retain him. So, we came to 34. Then we came to 34. We completed the last winning mark.
Till then, we had a point. Till then, we had taken 9 players. So, we had to take 2 players. So, you kind of knew.
We had to take 2 players. I had 38 points to win the game. I had a chance to retain it by 36. I don't think we have a strong bonding.
I don't think that our main strategy was to go for their player when it comes to bonding between the six teams. So I don't think that someone will go for Rohit for such a high bidding rather than leaving one or two teams. Like we had the Hurricanes, the Naren Strongs. I think we had a competition within the three teams.
The three teams were almost out of the competition. So we were strong that if we had a point, we would have taken it in 38,000-2000, but we would have retained Rohit. Which I think makes sense, right? I mean, end of fate, when we play on pitch, on the ground, bonding matters a lot. Right?
When you have that same kind of wavelength, that same kind of opinion to a particular match matters a lot. My follow-up question is purely my observation, right? I feel that...
So I have noticed that when you both play in a different team, it is fun. There is a competition that we see. The best comes out of you because like I said it's healthy.
You are wanting to get his wicket. He is wanting to hit you for his sake and people enjoy that as well. Do you think? That is a good thing or is it a bad thing? It's not like if we play separately outside, we play best.
It's not like that. This is not the right thing. At times, yes, it is good to play against each other.
As you were saying, if I am taking his wicket or he is taking my wicket or he is hitting for a 6 to me or vice versa, it's good. It's good to have for one or two games. But we eventually want to play together because... See why we want to play together, it is not, see it is because we understand each other's game, we compliment each other's game and it is, we are critical also for one another.
It's not like a winner is not playing good and I am saying, no, no, you are playing well. It is not, it never happens. I always go and tell him, boss, you are not, this is a particular thing you have not done well. Similarly, he keeps on telling me. And it's an open dialogue.
And we never take this on hard. It is not, again, it is not about me. me and Pinnate is about the 5-6 of us we are playing together in this season. We keep on, we are more critical than, you know, we are complimenting each other, no doubt about it when somebody plays well. But then we are critical also and nobody is taking that in heart. Instead, people are, you know, taking this as a learning or probably going for an improvement.
So this is good to play together and as you are saying there is no captain as such. Because you are the captain no matter what, right? I have that neck of doing things.
That's the passion that most of us here bring to the game. And Rahul, this is something which I can do with these guys only. If and all you have seen one game I played with a different team in outside ground, I was very silent.
You are not involved as much. Because that is not my cup of coffee I feel. I can do with these guys and they know that he will.
So that's okay. Yesterday, for instance, yesterday's game he gave ball third over to Vishwanathnath. one of my good friends came to me and told me that you bowl this over and I took his advice and I took the ball.
I didn't ask him. Then I told him Vinay I am bowling this over. That's all. And he didn't say no. That's the game and that's what.
This independence what I am getting with these guys only. May not happen in any other team that you are playing. So we are happy to play with these. Within each other. The most controversial question next is from the first episode.
Manoj Sharma. Right He missed to Auction himself or be part of the auction Himself and he was your Key bowler last time right I mean he took some very critical wickets In some of the matches his left arm Bowling become very deceptive to play Sachin lagra And in addition, Vinay Kenny bowled brilliantly in the last season. He was absolutely unplayable.
But this time, maybe he's picking up slowly, but he's there. So do you think these two bowlers, one is Manoj Sharma and the second is Vinay Kenny, not still coming up there, are you getting an impact from bowling Vinay? We are missing a lot in this season as well. We have a gap for the fifth bowler in this season as well.
We have to think about when to do it, how to complete the 5th over, in what duration to do it. So, we don't have to think about the last season in the struggle episode. Because in the middle over, Mr. Vinay Khenig and... Manoj Sharma used to get out of it smoothly. I feel that if somebody says whom you are missing in this team, I feel not… It is not like Naren and Amit are not good.
But yes, we are missing Manoj more than that. Yeah, just because that variety that he gets into bowling becomes… And another thing is what I feel, he doesn't play very regularly on a regular basis, right? He comes during the season, during the tournament, so people don't know how to… cope up with his bowling, right? Like the regular players, we know that he plays this, he plays that.
So we are definitely missing him in the field and out of the field. To be very frank. If we call outside field as a dressing room, then yes we are missing him. More in dressing room than on the field.
Because that was again a fun. You all know about him. So he was definitely a fun for us and we are definitely missing him.
You guys were one of those few people who started playing cricket, right? I think there was Abhishek, Pawan, Gopi and few more other people. And then initially you started playing cricket just I think in the skating rink, right? That's where you started playing? We started in tennis mode.
Tennis and then we moved and then eventually moved to the ground, right? You won season 1. And... The idea of bringing the season together, I think you guys were part of it initially and now we are into second successful season.
Today you're sitting with me on this chair sharing the dais. How does it feel? Do you feel you have acclimated? accomplished everything from a cricket fraternity point of view. If you ask me, not really.
I'll tell you why. Actually, we were both outside. Not just the two of us, all of us were outside.
So we were discussing how to make cricket... But I love seeing it. So this was Rohit's thought that we should start a season like this which is going on in a daily routine, which we play in alternate days, which has just happened on the weekends. So this was Rohit's thought. So you are the architect behind this and then there were a lot of other thoughts.
It is just a thought. Obviously, Gopii has put all the thoughts. So, I think it is a good idea.
I think it is a good idea. I think it is a good idea. I think it is a good idea.
I think it is a good idea. I think it is a good idea. I think it is a good idea. I think it is a good idea. I think Gopii has put all the thoughts.
After that, we discussed with Gopii. It was Gopii's hard work that this is happening to me. For me, it is Gopii's hard work and dedication.
This is happening. You can think too many things. It needs, to be honest, a lot of time. Rahul, you can actually think too many things. Thinking is not important.
Execution is more important. And it is Gopii's execution which is making this possible. According to me.
And to answer your question on accomplishment. See, we are in 40s. now and trust me when we play cricket or any sports or any anything we still you know it remind us our childhood and one or another has to have their childhood you know childhood life going on because for me the best you know but best stint of the life is childhood only you know you all agree with me because and we never understand that that piece when we are when we are in that stage but then when as you grow I think it was good in my childhood too.
These small things, cricket or having a chat at certain places with friends and spending certain time. I strongly feel that if there was no cricket, this much bonding would have been missing. Because that is one thing which is getting all of us together and today we are sitting here very casually talking about it, beat on the ground.
It is kind of getting. Basically, like you said, seeing the world. You did the architecture of Reason 2. It was a thought process.
Why? Because there was a passion. And there was somebody else who came and helped you. Because he had another passion and things evolved.
Absolutely. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to meet. It wouldn't have been possible.
So many people. If you look at it now, then... So the people we meet, our cricket is a group. Exactly.
The 60-70 members, our interaction is due to cricket. Apart from cricket, we have a high hello with people. There is not much bonding.
The bonding is made through cricket. Very nice. We will move on to the next segment. We will start with Vinay. We have to answer in one word.
Then the next one will go to Rohit. Then we come to you and then you. Right?
Favourite youngest player in our club? Our club means ACC. Our club, right?
So, like I'm talking the likes of maybe Subash, Vishak, Pranav, Taran. And you know that youngsters. You can consider me young as well.
Youngest. Subash. Okay. Only Naren.
Oh, you're considering Naren young. Okay. Very good news for Naren.
In fact, Subash, Naren, they bring so much to the game. We have seen that. And obviously other players, Vishak ho gaya, Taran ho gaya, Pranav, who's been exceptional this time. Rohit is there. Everybody is good.
One skill that you would like to borrow from a player? player within our club. So all these questions are within our club, right?
So one skill that you would borrow, it can be, okay, let's do this, right? One batting skill that you would like to borrow and one bowling skill. The batting skill that you would like to borrow and one bowling skill.
Ram and Sachin, the way they play, fantastic. Fantastic, yeah. I have played with Ram in a lot of the matches outside opening, so incredible batsman.
So for me betting wise I would say two things. One is obviously you know the players like Ram, Sachin and all the players, the bet speed they have. The great bet speed. I personally don't have that. Second is probably the gutsiness of Gopii probably.
I see him come forward and just tagging, you know, putting a lot of price to his wicket. So that is one thing which is very important. So these are the two things on batting, probably bowling. I would say Mr. Raita's pace, Mr. Vishwanath's pace probably.
I mean, incredible pace. And Raita's in-cutters, Pawan's in-cutter. But we saw Pawan's in-cutter going for a six by Manoj last time. It was a slow delay.
It was a slow delay. Otherwise, he's good. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, some of these pace bowling that... I think everybody knows that right when you're playing a match just get through these two overs of these key players and you're sorted. The rest will come today.
That's a solo reason I feel people like Rahul and Kavabar Pawan also to an extent or few more are not getting too many wickets they deserve. Correct. Bowling up? Anybody else other than maybe Rohit?
Vinay Khenigg's pen. No. If you talk about mysterious bowler then Manoj.
No. No. It has speed, slow, variations too.
Correct. Manoj, okay, very nice. One reliable fielder.
In current setup of ours or overall? As of today. No, overall you are saying. So all the questions are about our all 60-65 members. One reliable fielder.
Wherever you stand, you know that boss is amazing. No problem. Naren is the best.
Naren is the best. If I talk about myself at one time, I am also a bit... from last season, this season too, I am a bit... But if I am on the boundary, make sure that...
I would say Himanshu and Girish probably. These would, means Himanshu probably. If I need to name only one, Himanshu. Himanshu is in, in Canada we call it Jinkai.
Means deer, right? Means it is spring. If you say jump from here to there, it will jump.
And probably Girish. Girish yaar, I mean we know Girish. So yeah, I mean you have been exceptional fielder this time.
Like I said in the beginning, you have become old. You are getting to play as much as you can. I am not old, I am just a little old. One batsman. One reliable batsman.
Maybe let's talk about season 2. Season 2, you are the talking back, you know. So I have to take your name now. Thank you.
Sharma, he played well. Yeah, actually. Last Thunderdog. Thunderdog played exceptionally well, Sharma.
One bowler in the current season. It may not necessarily be who has taken a number of the wickets. But in general, you know, who has consistently performed in all the matches. So I have not seen all the matches so commenting on this would be not wise enough but But how many matches have you watched? I have to think about it but probably Rahul Ithal Okay, very economical Economical and he has taken wickets also in this season unlike last season Economical we can tell, but the way people want to play very carefully that the wicket doesn't go.
Again, it is not about wickets or this or that. It is about how he is bowling. If you bowl him any over, you know that... I have taken him in the last game, he has taken couple of one or two, you know, bold. Those were very, very fantastic balls.
Unplayable delivery bills. That's the reason I have taken him. potential team that you think can win this cup keeping your team aside no i mean let's assume that you have that in your mind right if not drizzles then avalanches for me avalanches okay They are very good bonding.
Good bonding throughout, I think all the 11 players. In some form or the other, they are there. They are everything. Fielding, batting, all of that.
Everything is balanced. The best thing about them currently, which I felt yesterday also is the... is the fielding structure of them because uh see in our team if you come to my team with our team right now probably your team also to an extent or other teams also you'll see uh you have one or two fielders for the key positions you know you'll go to a boundary there two fields and those two are usually strong fielders and then you will see that people are not that strong in the future.
That is happening with us too. Correct. You know we have to keep subhas at the… And I think, I think Rohit, the way they have auctioned, they have done it very smartly. They have done their homework because they knew fielding is also very important here.
Right, the fielding is very important in a small ground. So they have done a very good job. They were very smart in this. Very smart.
Okay, we move on to the next question. One word about your vice captain Dr. Vishwanathnath. Is he your vice captain or is Rohit Vaibh's captain?
I am sure he is my vice captain. Yeah, just kidding. Yeah, Vishwanath is my vice captain.
One word about Vishwanathnath. Great man. Okay. He is, no doubt, man. Words are enough for him.
If you are talking about cricketing sense, he is an amazing bowler. He is a good team man. Very, very good influencer.
If you are talking about outside cricket, he is a... amazing human being from long long time I've seen him helping me in thick and thin vice versa I'm also always ready for him but he's always there for us there are instances I have to talk in detail I cannot right now but there are instances where he has gone all the way he was like very very you know supportive and helpful to me in my personal life yeah yeah no I mean I think everybody has the same opinion about Dr. Vishwanathnath and I am sure many others also right they are there because and you are reaching out to that person because you know that he will have some solution or could be and like you said he is a very good influencer right because I have seen him in so many matches where he is trying to get the team he is letting go of things make sure that you're playing together and things like that. We move on to the next final question. One player, depending on the current performance that we are in season two, you think he should have been in your team?
Current form or? In part of season two. We always wanted Rahul Aithali.
He never comes to our team, but then he's the one. We always want. I always want personally.
If I want to captain a side or be in any side, obviously these are the guys which are already playing with me, I want them. But then Rahul is somebody which we are missing always. I am missing always. Okay. So we are hearing a lot of Rahul.
So I think that become more difficult next time to get Rahul, right? Because there are a lot of people still eyeing. If we are together we will definitely try.
He is too costly but then we will definitely try. Alright, so this brings end of this show. So I really appreciate your time Vinay. Thank you for making your time to come to this show.
Pleasure is all ours. The first episode we couldn't have better guest on this show. One question before we close this. In fact we were walking and coming here. I asked it, why the hell they have chosen us?
For the first show. So that is my question to you guys. I mean, so I will tell you some background about this, right?
And also to the viewers. Itna acha season ho raha hai, season 1 itna acha hua, season 2 itna fantastic chal raha hai. To humne soja ki, you know, thoda kuch karte hai, flavour layate hai, masala layate hai. And then we kind of started this, came together, we started this idea, we did some short interviews on the ground. And then this idea of creating a podcast came to our mind as well.
And then we had to select the players. We wanted somebody, and this is purely out of passion, so we thought that we need somebody who is jovial, who is somebody who can talk their heart out about this. game and you know give their point and why both of you uh just like that so that's a very very smart answer you didn't understand too much about that you have answered yeah no but i can't thank you enough for being such a sport coming here giving us that time it's always up there to you be among be around you guys it is always up there my only request is uh next time if we plan to host you make sure you're coming on time for the show and that's it i don't want any of your comments for that so thank you once again and thank you everybody for watching the first episode of DRS with RJ