If you want to see how IAS officers bend over backwards to please their political bosses, there can be no better illustration than what happened at the  La Martiniere pitch in Lucknow on Sunday during a friendly T20 match between the officers and the CM Akshilesh Yadav's team. The CM's team won, and he was declared the Man of the Match and the Best Cricketer - fourth year in a row.

And one would have thought the officers would have the knack to be the smart losers, hiding their sycophancy is inability. Nope, they made an embarrassing display of their desire to lose, and what the viewers saw that day was nothing short of a tragedy of comical proportions.

The match at La Martiniere ground in Lucknow was organised as part of the annual four-day meet of officers -'IAS week'- which concludes on Sunday.

Winning the toss, CM XI elected to bat first with Yadav scoring 65 run, including 11 boundaries and a six. 

The CM's team set up a target of 127 runs in 20 overs.

The IAS officer who takes Akilesh's wicket is clearly not pleased as he holds his head in regret. 

In response, the IAS XI found themselves in a tight spot as they had to score three runs in two overs. However, they gave it their best and scored only two runs, and managing 126 runs in their quota of 20 overs.

Special credits to NDTV India for the great reporting. Watch the video here, and pay special attention to Chief secretary Alok Ranjan's quote at the end.

You can watch the full NDTV report here.