The pitch was ready, the players were all geared, the teams had strategized, umpires were on the ground and finally the guard was taken. Howzat! Yes, this was the sound echoing all over the place that day. You must be wondering what am I talking about?

By Rahul Neel Mani

The CIOs of India, one of the oldest CIO associations in New Delhi/NCR (under the aegis of ISMF), organized the first CIOs Cricket Cup – an unheard of, unique, one of its kind initiative for CIOs on August 5, 2012 at the Expo Center Noida. Guess what, the event coincided with Friendship Day and was truly synonymous of the occasion.

Attended by over 80 CIOs and their families, the day-long cricket tournament cum carnival was full of energy from one corner of the center to the other. Making it spicier was the dash of fun, food and frolic around the makeshift cricket stadium which kept the families fully occupied and thoroughly entertained.

Out there unknown didn’t exist, business rivals were teammates and everybody was in a mood to celebrate the success of teamwork.

There were a lot of similarities drawn between the profession and CIOs Cricket Cup. Just like work, there were leaders who took charge of strategizing. Like work, there were teams meticulously putting their best foot forward to win the matches. Like work, everybody was attentive and alert. Like work, the teamwork was rewarded by a win.

In all, there were six teams chosen with eight players a side. The names of the teams were also chosen as if they were out for a kill. Crazy Crocs were pitted against Mighty Bulls, Sharp Eagles took on Smart Sharks and Roaring Tigers were up against The Cheetas.

The rules were as crazy as the tweaked format of the game but camaraderie was at its peak. A bunch of CIOs were seriously playing while the others were eagerly watching. A bunch was busy cheering the players while the others were just saying Cheers!. Since the beginning till the end, the atmosphere was simply electrifying and ecstatic.

While the matches were on, there were activities that kept the families entertained and occupied.

Flirting with his record breaking mustaches (14 feet) Ram Singh Chauhan kept the shutterbugs occupied. Most people were waiting for their chance to get clicked with the celeb.

The hard work and meticulous planning, put together by the core committee working under S C Mittal, Senior Executive Director IT of IFFCO, SP Arya, VP IT of Amtek Auto and CR Narayanan, CIO of Tulip Telecom, Umesh Rastogi, CIO of Everest Industries and Atul Luthra, CIO ABC Consultants among others, paid rich dividends. The Executive Committee along with a team of volunteers from Tulip Telecom ensured a flawless execution of the program. All participating (playing or non-playing) CIOs enjoyed every bit of it.

Though there was literally one winning team, but everyone seems to have won. The feeling of being together as a family, tremendous opportunities of getting connected to new friends and peers, breaking away from the traditional ways of meeting gave the sense of winning to every single CIO.

The event was sponsored by many IT vendors who had put up innovative stalls to keep the folk together and occupied.

Being the official media partner, this is a small contribution from Dynamiccio.com for the greater cause of building communities successfully.