With BOSM closing in and practices in full swing, the BOSM English Press sat down with Saksham Bansal, the Captain of the Cricket team, to learn more about the team’s participation in the fest.
Saksham explained their practice regimen, stating that the team usually started practice by 5:30 P.M.-8:00 P.M. with varying regularity—meeting every day during the period leading up to BOSM. He added that the senior members of the team conducted regular meetings to discuss the performance of the team and suggest changes.
Saksham said that the Cricket team would be inviting seven teams for a pink ball, day-night T20 tournament, wherein matches would be played under floodlights in the evenings. He added that these matches were new territory for many of the teams involved as colleges generally do not have access to pink balls. He highlighted that the BITS team itself played with them for the first time this semester.
Talking about the performance of the team the past year, he said that the team had reached the semi-finals during BOSM 2023. The team had also participated in a tournament in IIIT Delhi and won the tournament at InterBITS held at BITS Goa in the past year.
Speaking on the challenges faced by the team, Saksham emphasised on the problems caused by the rains as well as the quality of the pitch. He explained that the level of the pitch was two inches below ground level, which caused the pitch to become waterlogged, and took as long as two days to dry to playable conditions. He added that the team planned on approaching the appropriate authorities after BOSM to fix this issue.
Saksham shared that leading a team had been a challenging experience. He noted that unlike school-level teams, the college team did not have a coach to closely scrutinise them. Explaining further, he said that he had to shoulder the responsibility of managing the team and suggesting improvements. He added that despite this, his game had not been affected, and holding the post had a positive impact on his confidence.
On a closing note, Saksham said that he hoped the BOSM tournament would see the team performing as well as it did during the InterBITS tournament. He requested the fest attendees to spectate the cricket match, as well as any other sport which they enjoy.