Interview of the 12th Man:- Episode 1:- 'Interview of the Interviewer'.

So in this New Series of 'Interview of the 12th Man', Our first Guest is Jay Bhavsar (@bhavsarJ2_0) Bhai. Jay Bhai is a Journalist. Most of you will be familiar with him through the Interviews he does with Cricket Fans, Journalists etc from all over the World. In fact, this Series itself is inspired from the Interviews that he does. So it is a great pleasure for me that he agreed to be our first Guest. That is why I am calling this Interview Episode as the 'Interview of the Interviewer'.

RJVV:- Before we get into things related to Cricket, You have now done more than 80 Interviews (in addition other Dual Interviews also), So what was the idea behind starting these Interviews? How has been your Journey with the Interviews? Jay:- The idea was to understand what others think about a particular topic. It was also about giving fans a platform. Giving them recognition that they deserve. They do so much of work, the hardcore cricket lovers, and this was a medium to give them the respect and a voice to share their opinion. The dual interviews are just giving viewers two perspectives on the same topic. The journey has been fantastic. Still relatively new here but it has been amazing. The amount of praises that I have got and received in these four months is so heartwarming. I still do and it feels great. Never thought I would interview more than 80 people, my plan was to stop after doing couple, but after every interview article that I put up, I just felt I could do one more. And now we are here. I need to thank all the interviewees so far that have given their time to think and write for me, feels so good when they do that. Also special mention to @CricCrazyNIKS and @CricCrazyJohns and @vmanjunath.

RJVV:- Moving onto Cricket related things, What were your Early memories of following Cricket? When did you started to follow it? Do you remember how old were you at that time? Jay:- First of all, thank you so much for having me bro. It's like I am getting a taste of my own medicine but anyways let's get on with it. So my early memories of this sport was my grandfather watching cricket, around 2000-01, with so much enthusiasm. He used to watch it with a whisky in one hand and remote on the other. He was so cool and he only introduced me to this sport. I remember watching a match with him for the first time and guess who was batting at that moment, not Sachin Tendulkar, not Rahul Dravid, not even Ganguly, it was VVS Laxman who made me fall in love with cricket. I think he scored a hundred against Pakistan or Australia I don't quite remember. RJVV:- How has been your Experience of following the game for so long? Has it helped in your Life in any way? Jay:- Earlier, I was a very aggressive fan of India, used to hate the opposition completely be it Australia or Pakistan or even England. But over the years I realised that it's ultimately cricket that I should enjoy rather than just one team. Obviously journalism plays a huge part in this because it made me and my views on the game more fair and equal. RJVV:- Have you been able to watch a match in the Stadium? Jay:- Yes, I remember first time watching the game was in 2011 when Windies toured India for ODI and tests and even T20s I think. I watched day 1 of the Mumbai test in Wankhede which was brutal to watch because Windies scored plenty of runs but lost only two wickets throughout the day. It was the rare tied test. Was a bit of mixed emotions watching the game for the first time (day 1) but I have been part of plenty of IPL thrillers over the years but I am glad it all started from watching a test match. RJVV:- Who was your Favourite player growing up? Also who is your Current Favourite Player? Jay:- You ask this question to anyone who has been watching Cricket since 2000s and you will hear or read only one name and that's Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Obviously no disrespect to any other cricket legends of India but it was always Tendulkar who made me feel like I am watching cricket in it's truest sense.

My current favourite player is Hardik Pandya. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will always be one of my favourite batsmen but if you see the value Hardik Pandya adds in the team in all the departments of the game, you can say he is the MVP. However I was never a hard-core fan of any particular player growing up or even now. Players like Sachin, Dhoni, Kohli will come and go but what matters is how the team is winning so I am always more a fan of the team than a particular player. RJVV:- Your favourite Knocks in Cricket? (At least 3)

Jay:- 1. Gambhir and Dhoni's knock in the finals of 2011 World Cup. 2. Kohli's knock in the final of CT13. 3. Rohit Sharma 200 against Aussies. RJVV:- Which is Your Favourite IPL Team? Your Memories following them? Jay:- The first two editions of IPL, I was a KKR supporter. Reason? SRK. But that was silly of me to follow a team just because the owner was popular. I became MI fan since I am from Mumbai and since the God of Cricket is also playing for this team, from 2010. And that year was like bittersweet. We lost against CSK and it was a bit hard because it was my first year of supporting this team. We went on take the revenge in the later years but that's a different thing.

RJVV:- Your Memories of 2007 T20 WC, 2011 ODI WC and 2013 Champions Trophy? How was the feeling and Celebrations after the Wins? Jay:- 2007 T20 was in South Africa and matches used to start a bit late. Still remember those nights where my whole family used to sit and watch that game late even though I had school and had to wake up early next day. Those were great days. 2011 World Cup was amazing. So much hype was built on this one. Still remember Yusuf Pathan played a mad innings against SA in SA in ODI's, he was smashing Steyn and others and although we lost the game, but we realised Yusuf Pathan's potential that game. And the finals was amazing too, was watching that game with my friend and we celebrated together after that victory, what a night that was. That was the best sleep I had. 2013 feels like it happened yesterday. That knock of Virat was so crucial because when Dhoni got out I lost all hopes. And even after that knock I was not convinced we had enough because 130 is a small target. But the way we defended was outstanding. I did lose hopes of winning the game again when Ishant Sharma was getting whacked but he made it up by picking up wickets of Morgan and Bopara. RJVV:- Your thoughts about the Future of Indian Cricket? Jay:- Future of Indian Cricket looks the brightest. We have so much of talent, young players coming from different parts of the country and watch them play together is so interesting to watch. Shaw, Gill, Samson, Natarajan, Chakravarthy the list can go on and on. Just hope we get what we deserve and that is an ICC Trophy in the next few years. RJVV:- And finally, Your Take on the Fanwars that keep happening here? Jay:- I Never took them seriously but appreciate and respect their passion towards supporting their idol.

Thank You for Reading.

Follow Jay Bhavsar on Twitter:- @bhavsarJ2_0

Jay Bhavsar's Website:- bhavsarj.in