Cric-Mania has been ruling the roost within the organization by improving the fun quotient since its inception in 2013. It is great as a team bonding activity for the employees, and also provides a great opportunity for teams to interact with one another.
This year’s Cric-Mania was extraordinary, as for the very first time, we had 16 teams across departments. Participants were requested to send in their entries along with their skill set, and even employees with a beginner level of game expertise were encouraged to participate. There was a special focus on involving female players, with them being entitled to an advantage of double scoring! The format followed was similar to that of the IPL, and we received over 325 entries for the much-awaited auction. A superb response.
The auction took place on 21st March among the 16 teams – Amsterdam, Berlin, Nairobi, Cape Town, Rio, Helsinki, Moscow, New York, Lisbon, Tokyo, Prague, London, Paris, Dubai, Sydney and Mumbai. Before the auction began, our partner for Cric-Mania – Hilton displayed a lip-smacking chaat corner for the teams. Additionally, Fanatic and Mini Punjab were also sponsors for the event. The entire office was filled with an atmosphere of excitement during the auction. At the beginning of the auction, each team was given 12000 points to start their bidding and it started at 100 for each player while the teams were also given an option to retain their star players at 1000 points for each player. The highest bid on a player was at 4100 points that kick-started the auction. The commentary for the bidding and match was ably carried out by Anish D’souza.
The fun filled auction went on for the rest of the evening with maximum participation by everyone. The entire office was looking forward to the D-day for Cric-Mania 2022
The day finally dawned, and on 1st. April 2022, the teams converged on the Central Railway Grounds, Parel, Mumbai to knock each other off and find a Winner! Resplendent in their customised T-shirts
Armed with clappers and whistles, and matching T-shirts, the faithful followers cheered their teams with frenzied fervour! The ladies gave the guys a run for their money…. literally!
Humorous commentary provided by Dinesh and Manish was entertaining and fun. Chilled fruit juices , cut fruit and coconut water kept everyone hydrated in the heat. Lunch, high tea and dinner by Mini Punjab, fortified both the players and the spectators.
16 teams playing each other in a day, is a lot of cricket! Finally it was New York vs. Paris, and New York ended up the Winner. See the charts at the end for details!
To make the event even more festive, there was a carnival in the evening with pop-up stalls selling waffles, chaat, candy floss, popcorn and loads of snacks and munchies. There were also fun games.
A big round of applause for all the winners, and every participant who went out bravely onto that field. Kudos too, to the organisers and volunteers, who worked hard behind the scenes to ensure it all went smoothly. And a lot of gratitude to our sponsors– Hilton, Mini-Punjab and Fanatic, for contributing so much to the success of the occasion.
A special round of applause for those who worked tirelessly to make the event a success— the Cric Mania Organising Committee, which included Chintan Bhatt, Sunny Sharma, Anish D’souza, Janice Shanbag, Aakash Shah, Dhrishti Naik and Dylan Kinny. The latter two were also responsible for the creative fliers and standees!
It was a memorable day, indeed, and everyone can’t wait to repeat it again next year!
THE DETAILS
| TEAM | TEAM | MAN OF THE MATCH | FEMALE OF THE MATCH | WINNER | |||
| MATCH 1 | HELSINKI | VS | LISBON | KUMAR WCL | POONAM TITME | LISBON | |
| MATCH 2 | CAPETOWN | VS | DUBAI | VIVEK PATIL | NIKITA Swarnkar | CAPETOWN | |
| MATCH 3 | AMSTERDAM | VS | MOSCOW | VENKATESH | NIKITA JOLY | AMSTERDAM | |
| MATCH 4 | PRAGUE | VS | LONDON | GAURAV PAI | SEEMA RANE | LONDON | |
| MATCH 5 | NAIROBI | VS | TOKYO | SANTOSH JADHAV | SHRUTI GADGE | TOKYO | |
| MATCH 6 | SYDNEY | VS | NEWYORK | VIKAS | RAKHEE AGARWAL | NEWYORK | |
| MATCH 7 | MUMBAI | VS | PARIS | JAGDISH GITE | PRIYANKA KHADKA | PARIS | |
| MATCH 8 | RIO | VS | BERLIN | SHAILESH UTTEKAR | JANVI THAKER | RIO | |
| QUARTER FINAL | |||||||
| Q 1 | CAPETOWN | VS | TOKYO | SUCHIT BAGKAR | KAJAL GAIKWAD | TOKYO | |
| Q 2 | NEWYORK | VS | LISBON | RAHIL | ANCILLA | NEWYORK | |
| Q 3 | PARIS | VS | AMSTERDAM | JAGDISH GITE | NIKITA JOLY | PARIS | |
| Q 4 | RIO | VS | LONDON | JIGNESH PATEL | SANDHYA BANSODE | RIO | |
| SEMI FINAL | |||||||
| S1 | TOKYO | VS | NEWYORK | ADITYA | ANCILLA | NEWYORK | |
| S 2 | PARIS | VS | RIO | JAGDISH GITE | JAYNISHA | PARIS | |
| FINAL | |||||||
| FINAL | NEWYORK | VS | PARIS | RAHIL | ANCILLA | NEWYORK | |