Smit Ajani

Engineer turned into Banker. Film Freak. Nerd in many ways...

[Abhishek AB @ABsay_ek]

You remember the auction room of 2018. Some kid from Patiala, barely old enough to vote, zero first class games to his name, suddenly worth 4.8 crore. It looked like the kind of punt that destroys franchises.
7 years on, that same kid is hitting sixes like his life depends on it. Because it does.

From 2019 to 2022, Prabhsimran played just 6 IPL games. Punjab kept the chequebook open, kept him on roster, kept whispering about potential. But potential without release rots you. You spend nights in hotels carrying water bottles. You watch Gayle & Dhawan do your job. You start believing the auction price was a curse, not a blessing.

He ran to stay human. 7 kilometers, then 8. Every morning. The burning in his lungs was better than the silence of the bench.

Sachin Tendulkar told him something once; He said most boys would kill to sit where he sat. Told him to find contentment there. Sounds like advice for a monk, not a cricketer. But Prabhsimran clung to it.

Then 2023 happened. The Impact Player rule dropped. Purists screamed about death of cricket. For Prabhsimran, it was oxygen. He could swing from ball one without worrying about the collapse.

13th May 2023, Kotla. Delhi Capitals had them against the wall. He walked in & played the innings of his life. First 30 balls: 27 runs. Next 35: 76 runs. No other batter crossed even 20 runs for his team while he scored his 1st IPL century. Delhi missed the playoffs. Prabhsimran found himself.

But that is not why he bats like his life depends on it. You need to meet Sardar Surjit Singh, His father. Kidney failure. Three sessions a week hooked to machines. The house in Patiala is heavy with it. The only time the old man lights up is when his son opens for Punjab. They carry him to the couch before every game. Position the TV. For 3 hours, the sickness vanishes.

Think about that weight. Every boundary is not runs for him, It is medication. Every six is oxygen for an old man. When he says he plays for his father, he means it literally. The single joy in a week of hospital corridors & medical debt.

Come the 2025 auction, Punjab retained 2 players only. Shashank Singh & him. 4 crore for a keeper who had spent 4 years doing mostly nothing. He repaid them with 549 runs at 160 strike rate.

Shreyas Iyer gave him something simple; Freedom. Told him he was senior now. Told him one bad game would not end him. Freedom to fail.

Now he is flying. Strike rate pushing 173 this season. 80* against Mumbai off 39 balls. 51 off 25 against SRH. Each innings bigger than the last: 37, then 43, then 51, then 80*.
The boy who waited is now the man who delivers.

[Harsh Sanghavi @sanghaviharsh]

A surreal drone view of flamingoes in Kutch, like nature’s own masterpiece unfolding in perfect harmony.

[Parimal @Fintech03]

There is an interesting physics & engineering behind this. The Rann of Kutch can reach ground temperatures of 50 degrees C. If an egg were laid on the flat ground, it would cook in mins.

Flamingos build a 30-40 cm mud pedestal. The moisture evaporating from the wet mud of the pedestal creates a micro-cooling effect, keeping the egg significantly cooler than the surrounding desert floor.

The Flamingo City is actually a Passive-Cooling Industrial Complex :)

[Smit Ajani @wakeupsmit]

@saket71 Just a small query, why they gave ticket to Yusuf Pathan who is from Gujarat and lived whole life here?

[Smit Ajani @wakeupsmit]

@Keval_IM Share olx link!!

[PV Sindhu @Pvsindhu1]

Some rivals become part of your journey forever. Carolina was one of them.

We first played each other when we were 15 or 16 year old girls in the Maldives, and from then on we went on to share so many battles.

To be honest, you were also a complete pain on court. The constant shouting, the intensity, the little tricks, they would get to anyone. But your skill, speed and fighting spirit were second to none.

People remember the big matches and even the ugly spat we had in that third set over picking the shuttle. I’ll admit I was completely infuriated that day.

But a few months later we sat across from each other over coffee in Madrid, talking and laughing, and in that moment there was nothing but respect.

That’s the Carolina I’ll always remember.

I’ll also always be grateful for the incredible camaraderie our generation built. Our batch of girls made women’s singles such a special place to compete in, and I honestly don’t know if badminton has seen something like it before or will again.

Thank you for every battle, every lesson and most of all the friendship.

I wish you the happiest retirement, Carolina 🤗

Badminton will miss you.
And so will I ❤️

@CarolinaMarin

[The Educated Moron @EducatedMoron]

One of the biggest Mandela effects (phenomenon where a large group of people collectively misremember the same detail) on Indian social media is the widespread belief that Mir Ranjan Negi was the coach of the Indian women’s hockey team when it won the gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The mandela effect here is so strong that it is very likely that if you ask Grok or ChatGPT who was the coach, it is likly to tell you it is Mir Ranjan Negi (which in part is due to lack of extensive reporting on sports in India barring cricket).

But he was not.

The head coach of that team was Gurdial Singh Bhangu (who is also the first hockey coach to receive the Dronacharya Award, India’s highest sporting honour for coaches).

The team had M.K. Kaushik as a mentor during the preparation camp. Kaushik was the coach of Indian Men's Hockey team in 1998 Asian Games when team won gold medal the event after 30 years. And due to his expeience with training many women players at SAI, New Delhi, he was asked to assist as a mentor. He became second hockey coach to be awarded the Dronacharya Award in 2002, the same year India won that historic gold. He took over the coaching for Women's team from Gurdial Bhangu in 2002 just after the event.

When Yash Raj Films began work on Chak De! India, the screenplay writer Jaideep Sahni loosely based the character of Kabir Khan on M.K. Kaushik, who had just taken over as the full-time head coach of the women’s team in 2002. Several details in the film came directly from Kaushik’s life. Even the scooter used by Shah Rukh Khan’s character was Kaushik’s.

So where does Mir Ranjan Negi fit in and why does almost everyone remember him as the coach?

Mir Ranjan Negi was the goalkeeping coach of the 2002 women’s team. His association with the gold medal was real, but his elevation in public memory had little to do with coaching hierarchy and everything to do with being at the right place and the right time.

YRF wanted Kaushik to be the consultant for hockey scenes in the movie and prepare the cast for shooting. But Kaushik was actively coaching the national team so he couldn’t commit time as an on-field consultant during the film’s shooting. He suggested Mir Ranjan Negi (who at that point did not have a coaching job and needed something positive going for him in his life after losing his 19-year old son to a bike accident) to help YRF with hockey-specific inputs. Mir Ranjan Negi was close to Kaushik since they both played together for the national team and Mir was goalkeeping coach for the 1998 Asian Games too.

Once Negi became involved with the film, he realised that Kabir Khan’s fictional backstory closely resembled his own real-life experience particularly the events of the 1982 Asian Games, where India lost 7–1 to Pakistan and Negi, then the national team goalkeeper, was accused of match-fixing, which was partly due to his first-name 'Mir' which can be perceived as a Muslim name.

What’s crucial to note is this:
the screenplay was already written by then.
Chak De! India was not based on Mir Ranjan Negi’s life.

But the film’s marketing machinery latched onto the emotional overlap. Negi accompanied the cast on reality shows and promotional tours. This was the early era of Indian reality TV, when personal struggle narratives were aggressively foregrounded.

Even Jaideep Sahni later expressed discomfort at how someone who was only coincidentally associated with the real team began receiving disproportionate limelight, as if the film were an adaptation of his life. Even Mr. Mir has since clarified multiple times that the movie was not his biopic at all.

However two decades later,
Gurdial Singh Bhangu, the actual head coach, is barely remembered. M.K. Kaushik, also almost forgotten, passed away during COVID. While Mir Ranjan Negi remains in public memory synonymous with the 2002 triumph.

[Rajiv @Rajiv1841]

So, story behind Glenn Phillips becoming certified pilot is just so so amazing 😍

Last year, he was sidelined from any kind of cricket for 8 long months due to injury & guess what? Instead of resting, he had intense gym sessions & swimming in those 8 months of 2025.... & after gym, he started to look for other stuff to do & that is where he thought of learning flying plane.

He went through proper pilot training in new zealand from mid 2025 & got his pilot license when he was out of international cricket due to injuries. We have seen these kind of stuff in movies only, Glenn Phillips is a superstar. I haven't seen a cricketer like him, who is so immensely talented, he has just next level confidence & at this point he can learn anything!!

Even in cricket, he started his career as a proper wk batter then he started to bowl & his bowling was so good that he became bowling all rounder & we all know he is one of the best fielder in history, won test matches for New Zealand with his bowlng as well as with his batting. A great family man, I remember him crying for his father when he scored 100 vs India in kast series & he lost his father many months ago before that 100.

[Smit Ajani @wakeupsmit]

Hay @SunRisers you lost so many fans!!

[SunRisers Leeds @sunrisersleeds]

Abrar at Headingley, soon 👏

[Play With Fire | SunRisers Leeds]

[R. @RxSuryv]

Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa completes 32 years today.

Shah Rukh Khan was paid just Rs 5,000 as a signing amount and Rs 25k for the entire film. It was ready before Baazigar and Darr, yet distributors weren’t interested. SRK himself bought the Bombay territory to ensure its release.

@iamsrk as Sunil - pure magic, forever timeless.

[Joy Bhattacharjya @joybhattacharj]

Three years ago, I was at the Lemon Tree Bengaluru for the Volleyball League. And every morning I would finish breakfast & pop out to reception to pick up a copy of the TOI and the Economic Times. After watching me the first two days, this charming lady on duty would see me and immediately pick them out to give me.
One day, I just wanted the TOI, as the crossword then did not appear in the Sunday ET, and when she came with both, I told her I didn't need the ET.
She refused to understand, & didn't want to take back the other paper. And then I realized that like my darling son Neel and all in the autism spectrum, she struggled when a set routine was disrupted.
I apologized immediately, took the ET as well & was rewarded with a smile that just blew me away.
Thank you Lemon Tree Hotels for making a workplace for all. You have a supporter & customer for life

[Alka Singh @_singhalka]

I used to mock my teachers when they said, “How did you forget your homework but not your meals?”
I finally understood it when I started working. While others took vacations, I kept going even when sick. Not because I had to, but out of gratitude.
Whatever I am today is because of my work. Others may be better than me, but God gave me this chance. I’ll prove Him right through effort.
Having work and being able to do it is a privilege.

[Amit T @amittalwalkar]

Days after retiring from professional cricket, Rahul Dravid turned up for his childhood club, Bangalore United Cricket Club (BUCC). Dravid had started playing for BUCC at the age of 13 and, over the years, often spoke about the club’s role in shaping his career.

In 2013, BUCC found itself on the brink of relegation, with the bottom teams set to drop to a lower division. The club needed three crucial points to survive, and Dravid decided to step in and help.

Driving nearly 40 kilometres from his home, he arrived at the HAL Sports Club ground. There was no security, not even basic facilities like proper toilets, and, more poignantly, only 15 to 20 spectators in attendance. Without a single complaint, Dravid fielded for 81 overs on the first day.

On the second day, he did what he had done all his life, batting with determination and responsibility. Dravid scored 113 runs, helping BUCC secure the vital three points and avoid relegation.

Happy birthday, Rahul Dravid ❤️

[Imtiaz Mahmood @ImtiazMadmood]

Three friends are in a hotel room in Soviet Russia.

Two friends drink vodka and loudly tell political jokes in their hotel room. The third, exhausted, tries to sleep but cannot.

Frustrated, he goes downstairs for a smoke. On the way, he asks the receptionist to bring tea to room 39 in five minutes.

Returning upstairs, he joins them briefly, then leans toward a power outlet and says, “Comrade lieutenant, please send tea to room 39.”

His friends burst into laughter at the joke. Moments later, a knock sounds… and the receptionist arrives with a teapot. The laughter dies; his friends turn pale and silent. The evening ends abruptly, and the tired man finally sleeps.

In the morning, he wakes to find his friends gone. Alarmed, he asks the receptionist what happened.

She whispers nervously, “The KGB came before dawn and took them.”

Horrified, he asks why he was spared.

“Comrade lieutenant really liked your tea joke.”

[InGenious 2.0 @Bees_Kut]

"Aur fir Rehman Dakait driver ko gaadi rokne ke liye bolta hai lekin wo speed badha deta hai"

Bhai: us din bhi bilkul aisa hi hua tha Milord.

[Smit Ajani @wakeupsmit]

@siddtalks આવી ટ્વિટ કરી તમે શું "પ્રાપ્ત" કરી લેશો સાહેબ?

[Smit Ajani @wakeupsmit]

@deep1972_ દારૂબંધી ના લીધે આજે પણ સભ્ય સમાજના લોકો જાહેરમાં નથી પીતા અને ઘણી બધી સામાજિક બદીઓ થી બચી જાય છે. સંપૂર્ણ દારૂબંધી શ્રેષ્ઠ છે પણ હાલ જે પરિસ્થિતિ છે તે પણ સારી છે!

[Brijesh Doshi @brijdoshi]

Amdavad, India has been officially awarded the hosting rights for the 2030 Commonwealth Games during the Commonwealth Sport General Assembly held in Glasgow, Scotland.

Proud Moment for Amdavad and Gujarat...

@thecgf

[Smit Ajani @wakeupsmit]

@Dearme2_ Yes

[Smit Ajani @wakeupsmit]

@abdullah_0mar Batters?? We only play with 3 batsman!