The cricket@work experience

A majority of software professionals working in India consider themselves to be cricket gurus. Their passion is primarily fuelled by watching live streams of India matches on their laptops in office, YouTube-ing cricket videos - mostly of funny moments in cricket - and by offering their expert analysis on social media. But the real adrenaline rush is noticed during brainstorming sessions, where flaws in strategy, shot selection, pressure, etc are discussed at length, mostly borrowed from expert columns and TV debates after every India match. Now imagine what happens when a cricket tournament is announced in such an office.

First, there are 50 teams registered in less than 50 seconds, despite the employee strength being a few hundreds. The registration process, in true IT style, is online. The server almost crashes and organisers are forced to put a cap on number of teams allowed.

After settling the registration monster, the time comes for creative juices to flow. Getting the perfect team name is the target, and there are tons of emails floating around with voting buttons to decide on the right team name. Every name surely gets a vote each from the person who suggested it. Names such as Java Super Kings are not uncommon.

Then start the boardroom meetings. You can hardly find a free meeting room during those days - most are booked as teams sit down to discuss their strategies. Most of them pitching to open the batting, open the bowling and the smart ones also offer to keep wicket when they are not batting or bowling.

The discussions are really at an advanced level, focused on strategies to put pressure on the opposition from the first ball, unorthodox field settings, and the benefits of targeting shorter boundaries. Some even form SWAT teams to survey the playing area to avoid any surprises. Practice schedules are drawn, responsibilities and review (yes, review) dates are jotted down. You look at the scene and you feel this may not be too far from a real discussion in the Indian dressing room.

What's anything nowadays without photos being clicked? The selfies start from the practice sessions. Poses are captured playing the elegant flick and classic straight drives, much like in the manner of their favourite batsmen. They flood our social media timelines - after all, they are your team-mates - and likes are acquired in bulk.

When the matches near, the most important bit of the preparation process makes its presence felt. The inspirational talks. You can hear it anywhere: in the corridors, in the parking lots, at cafeterias. Team huddles become a familiar scene.

Finally, match day arrives over a weekend. The team begins to gather on the ground and start warming up. Suddenly, a few members of the team are missing after all the fancy build-up at the office. Frantic calls are made: some don't answer while some seem to find that unavoidable last-minute commitment that can't be missed.

The fun begins once the match starts: the opening fast bowlers pitch the ball a couple of times before it gets to the batsman, catches pop out of palms without fail, and the "water boys" are called after every one or two overs, sometimes even in between. All the planning and field sets disappear. The players are scattered around, mostly finding a position in the shade. Wickets fall more frequently than notifications on your smartphone, and helicopter shots fail to clear the infield. The self-proclaimed star batsman takes ages to time a shot. The cricketing scene, which looked very international in the planning phase, suddenly evaporates and a familiar scene of the evening games during childhood appears.

But in the midst of the mayhem, a few cricketing heroes emerge. The batsmen who hit sixes in the final over to take their team home, the bowlers who run in hard and manage to beat the bat with pace, and the ones who make the diving stops and take that "Jonty catch" all become legends in office chatter. Some meek totals defended, some mammoth ones chased down. The excitement of a sporting event can't be denied.

In the end, being part of all the build-up and playing a match itself, sometimes after a really long time, is the joy of it all. Some time spent on the field makes you wonder and appreciate the challenge that international stars go through. And most important of all, it just increases your love for the wonderful sport that is cricket.

Have a fun anecdote from an office tournament? Let us know at fanfare@cricinfo.com. Since we plan to feature a bunch of entries, please keep your post 200 words or fewer