During the early days of Team Wabag, no one would have ever given it to even stand a chance to win corporate games of corporate. The previous year had been disastrous with the team thrashed badly in all 3 games and knocked out of the tournament.
A team which has no big names, no big time players with a cricketing history to compete against some big corporate giants like ICICI, TCS , EDS etc was an achievement in itself. Eventually the so called under dogs went on to win the tournament over the same so called big names.
Yes, time and time again we call this a team effort, a collective performance but, all this might be just the secondary reasons contributing to the success. There were some key names behind this success.
One of them is Sathish Iyer a.k.a Iyer. One thing is certain; if not for him there would be no Team WABAG today. The confidence and attitude of one person made the team. I will strictly define him w.r.t only cricket and will avoid running a character description here. Aggression, confidence, Ruthlessness, daring and bold. Every adjective here is synonymous to Iyer as a captain.
To be frank, initially I had no hopes that this team can win big tournaments or even compete for that matter. All it took was one game on the field with him as captain changed my whole perception towards the team.
I am a lousy fielder and not so intent on diving around the field scrapping my elbows and knees, At his age (40 mostly ;)) the way he dives around the circle which even most Ranji players are not capable of, He is a amazing fielder and this makes me look all the more lazy of the field.
He could be called a terror among the team. It was to an extent that the moment you feel you have dropped a catch; you can hear this voice inside you “Man u r dead!!! He is gonna screw you”. Such was his influence on each player on the field. Its players like him who add flavor to the game and make the effort worthwhile.
I had never wanted to emulate anybody as far as cricket is concerned but perhaps I will be happy if I can handle the team with such passion, aggression and commitment. He was the best captain I had played under.
It was a pleasure playing cricket with a person like him.
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