When techies took to cricket

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‘‘All work and no play make Jack a dull boy’ - ah, wasn’t it Jack Nicholson, typing these words into reams of paper in ‘The Shining’?

Did you think techies did something similar all day round, sitting and blinking at LCD monitors?

Think again, but only after taking a weekend stroll into the Technopark in the capital city where techies loosen their grip on mouse pads and get padded up for the annual Technopark Cricket Tournament, that’s into its tenth year.

Imagine over 1,000 players, all exclusively from the IT world competing for their share of fun in the tournament that has 108 teams and which goes on for about three months — interesting, isn’t it?

“It is a stress-buster-feeling that the employees experience out there,” says, M. Vasudevan, senior manager, business development.

“After applying your mind and energy at work for a whole week, there can be nothing more relaxing than having some fun and that’s exactly the idea behind the tournament.”

From just 20 teams when it was started in 2002, the tournament involving the techies has blossomed into a spirited extravaganza, and the participation increases year after year. Last year, the number was 99.

“We play 8-over matches, and every Saturdays and Sundays, there will be seven matches each. Not just the associates, but even CEOs and top officials take part, and it is such a fun,” said S. G. Subramanian, co-ordinator of the tournament.

The activity has become so popular among the techies that even two nets are in place for teams to practice. Revenuemed is the defending champions while Infosys finished runner-up last year.

“We receive the support of Murugans Cricket Club and they give us the umpires and scorers for the matches. We even have a database for every match, so the teams get to trace back their games and get the feeling of a real tournament,” said Subramanian.

While cricket is the all-favourite sport, even football, badminton, tennis and basketball are in the leisure list of the IT professionals.

Badminton tourneys are also hosted at the facility occasionally.

“Almost everybody plays cricket and that is the reason why this tournament is such a hit, but there are people who like table tennis or badminton or other sports and we have a couple of beautiful courts,” said Vasudevan.