I started playing serious cricket in 1980. I was in 8th standard. I used to play tennis ball cricket like everyone else. One fine afternoon in 1980 I came to know that selections for the school cricket team were going on. I decided to try out. I was in 8th standard, studying in Kannada medium and we were considered inferior to students from English medium in sports, despite this I made it to the school junior team.
In the 80s one played cricket for the love of it. It was the era of straight bat cricket and spin bowling in India. In the middle class households, sport of any kind was shunned. One was expected to study well, get good grades and become an engineer or a doctor. 80s where 3 decades after independence and the country was being built sports were not part of the ecosystem of a young person.
In Mangalore leather ball cricket was being played on a matting wicket at Nehru maidan in the center of the city. There was some kind of coaching in summers it was conducted I think free of cost bike S Canada cricket association and the head coach perhaps the only coach was Mr. Manohar Nivas a chronologist by profession cricketer by passion he was the secretary of the district cricket association.
Cricket those days was all about batting with a straight bat building the innings and spin building. Hitting cross bat was frowned upon by the coaches if we hit a lofted shot the coach would scream, we were asked to keep the ball on the ground. Kapil dev had just burst into the scene, but India’s dustbin pitches were not conducive for pace bowling. We played without helmets because helmets were just nonexistent.
In 1982 when I reached 9th standard I got into the school A team or the senior team as an opening batter. All our inter school matches were three day affairs and we played two innings the finals of all tournaments were five day matches.
1982 was a great year for me. I scored a lot every time I went to bed in fact at the end of by the end of the season, I was the top scorer in the district. My schoolmates and friends used to come and watch me play they even compared me to the stylish English better David Gower.
At the end of the season in 1980-81 I was seen as a young cricketer with a lot of possibilities and bright future. Our team of St. Aloysius High School won every tournament that year. I was the top scorer in the district.
I was seen as the sure shot representative from the district for the selection trial of the Karnataka state under 15 team. The day of the selection trial, which was sometime in second half of 1981, was not mine. I got out 5 times in the nets and I was not selected. Selectors didn’t take into consideration my superlative performance in the previous season. I was devastated.
Unlike the current times there was no one to spot the talent to support there was no mentor nor someone who would tell you to keep going or keep practicing. I did my best to persuade South Canara Cricket Association to send me as a private candidate for the under 19 trials. But I was not selected in the trials which took place at the nets outside the KSCA stadium. I played for the next 3 years for my school and college. However, with no support, gave up cricket in 1984.
Heartbreaks are strewn across the history of cricket. So many talented players don’t make it to the highest level. Some of my seniors and peers played a bit in the higher levels of cricket or contributed by becoming coaches and spotting talent. My peers, left hand slow orthodox bowler and middle order batter Prakash Shenoy, represented Karnataka in under 15 and under 19 teams. He even played for South Zone under 19 team with L Sivaramakrishnan. Top order batter, P V Shashikant moved to Bangalore after his degree and went on to play for the state and was the captain as well. Another college team mate Samuel Jayaraj became a coach, opened a training centre in Mangalore and is credited for spotting KL Rahul. My senior, pace bowler Sanath Kumar played for Karnataka in Ranji Trophy, later became a coach and is credited for spotting the talent of Hardik Pandya.
41 years later, I saw a mail that our university was holding an inter institute faculty and staff cricket tournament and my interest piqued. I decided to try it out. I was 58, but reasonably fit as I have been working out for the last several years. I was playing with much younger colleagues, but I was delighted to see the old touch, foot work and ability to place the ball coming back. The ground at our campus (MAHE Bengaluru) is beautiful. In fact, Rasik Dar trained for IPL there. Last year, our team, that of Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design & Technology, won third place, and my batting contributed handsomely to our victory. I remained not out through the tournament. All of us were happy and we continued our practice. I thought I would play just one season but continued playing and I was happy with my fitness that allowed me to play another year, though our team didn’t do well. My batting in the matches wasn’t up to the mark.
Yet, in my 60th year, I am continuing to play. I run between the wickets well, I am hitting fours and stealing singles. Now I am training for the next year, hoping for a good season.
Playing again after 40 years, I realized how much I love playing the game, being in the middle, batting, bowling, fielding!
Cricket has changed now, It’s all about slog hitting sixes. One sees the artistry of foot work, timing and placement by very few players. Among the well-known, only Kohli, Gill and Sai Sudarshan play such strokes. Cricket is also about big money now like many other sports. News headlines talk about how a dropped catch cost the team X lakh rupees or how any lakhs did teams pay a player per run. There are many cricket academies when children train with a hope of playing in IPL and not test cricket. Performance in Ranji trophy, which was seen as a steppingstone for test cricket, seems to be irrelevant now. I am not sure if such overt commercialization of sport is good.
However, I will be playing another season, well into my 60th year! And I am enjoying being in the middle!