The BOSM English Press sat down with Yash Nigam, the Captain of the BITS Pilani Cricket Team, to get an insight into the preparations of the team for the upcoming edition of BOSM.
The team has been on a tight training schedule for three hours in the evenings, starting out with drilling and warm-up or fielding practices and proceeding to play matches in the form of run-chases. A coach oversees the practice and offers throw-downs to batsmen facing difficulties after practice hours. Similarly, for bowlers facing issues, cones are used to mark the run-up for the bowling practices. The T-20 match format is going to be followed for the BOSM tournament, and the team is preparing accordingly.
On weekends and holidays, the team goes off-campus to play matches against the Pilani Cricket Academy, B K Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology (BKBIET), and a team from the town of Baggar. Yash believed that the competition provided by the Baggar team was equivalent to what they were expecting to face during BOSM and mentioned that Sri Venkateswara College was touted to be the strongest competitor at the tournament.
When asked about the problems being faced by the team in terms of a lack of resources, Yash stated several challenges. Firstly, the team faced a virtual sunset curfew due to the absence of floodlights. The floodlights were meant to be installed before BOSM 2022, and since then, continuous discussions with the Associate Dean have been conducted to no avail. As for the inventory, he stated that the equipment had not been replaced since the last BOSM and was in a shabby state. The delivery underwent a delay of over a week, rendering the team unable to ‘knock’ the bats in time for the fest. He also mentioned that the ground maintenance was subpar, as the pitch had not rolled and the grass was uncut. He added that the Gym-G water cooler had been going out of order of late, causing issues in the extreme September heat.
Yash stated that the pitch was not rolled enough, even during the tournament. ‘We play three matches a day, so after the first match, the pitch is very slow. The ball keeps low, so the batsmen are not able to play their shots properly. The bounce isn’t fair for the batsmen’ he added. Additionally, the Gym-G grounds possess a mat rather than a turf wicket, unlike most prestigious colleges, which affected the quality of their game.
Speaking on the team’s performance in recent tournaments, Yash mentioned that both Teams A and B went on to play against each other in the Inter-BITS finals, with Team A winning. The team participated in and won matches at IIM Indore and LMNIT.
The trials for the team usually span 4-5 rounds, testing stamina, fielding, and skills in terms of batting or bowling. Players are made to play against each other as well as the existing team members; however, the latter part of the process was shortened this year due to time constraints because of the upcoming BOSM.
Yash said that being the vice-captain had significantly improved his game by invoking a sense of responsibility in him. He expressed belief in the newly recruited members as well.