Under the shade of a banyan tree at the iconic Motibaug cricket ground in Vadodara, Dattajirao Gaekwad would park his blue Maruti 800 car and watch the youngsters sweat it out in the nets.
As a former India captain, who featured in 11 Tests for the country between 1952 and 1961, Gaekwad knew what would make a young cricketer ready for the big league. And, his wards recall DK Sir - as he was fondly called - would keep a file of each and every cricketer and made sure that he guided them individually.
“Baroda cricket ki jaan thhe woh (He was the life of Baroda cricket),” says Yusuf Pathan, who along with his younger brother Irfan, met Gaekwad for the first time at the age of 14. “Back then, he looked after the cricketing affairs under the Baroda Cricket Association, and he knew each and every cricketer personally. He maintained a file with details about each and every player who were under him, be it at the U-14 or U-16 level,” Yusuf says.
Gaekwad, India’s oldest living Test cricketer, passed away at his residence in Vadodara on Tuesday at the age of 95, and his wards are yet to come to terms with it.
The Pathan brothers remember those times when their ‘DK Sir’ would make it a point to interact with the youngsters after each session. There were also occasions when his son and former India international Aunshuman would drop by to watch the kids in action. “DK Sir loved the players who could play grounded shots, and being a traditional cricketer himself, he had an eye for detail. He knew each and everything about a player - from his batting style to what’s going wrong - and after each and every session, he would tell the players how to rectify the mistakes,” Yusuf says.
Irfan fondly remembers an incident when Yusuf drew flak from DK Sir for playing a square shot. “This was during our U-16 days, when one day, he pulled bhai (Yusuf) out of the nets because he played a cross-batted shot. Sir was a firm believer of playing with the straight bat and as a result, when I walked into bat, I had to make sure that I did not even attempt to play a cross-batted one,” Irfan says, adding with a smile: “Those days taught us a lot…”
While some of his wards - including Nayan Mongia and Jacob Martin - went on to play for India in the 1990s, Yusuf and Irfan Pathan, too, broke into the senior national team in the early 2000s - keeping the legacy of Baroda cricket intact. And they both admit that Gaekwad had a significant role to play in their journey. “His dedication to Baroda cricket was something else altogether,” says Irfan.
FILE PHOTO: Baroda’s Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Pathan pose with Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. | Photo Credit: PTI
“It was a big leap for me when I went to play for Baroda Cricket Association and DK Sir had a huge role to play. He came to see me play in the railway tournament at the U-14 level and backed me to play for Baroda. When I stepped into the Motibaug cricket ground for the first time, everything was so different for me, and Sir was always there to watch us play. He would constantly follow the boys he had identified and once they were selected for Baroda, he made it a point to have a 15-20-minute class after every training session…”
When the boys would circle around him, DK Sir would explain the nitty-gritty of batting to the wards. “That was the norm every day,” says Irfan. Even Yusuf agrees. “I have never seen a coach who knew every minute-detail about a young player. He knew who was present or absent for the session, what was the duration of the respective player’s batting in the nets. It’s unbelievable in today’s times…”
As youngsters, Yusuf and Irfan did not know what was needed to chase their dreams of playing for India, but their ‘DK Sir’ showed them the way and boosted their morale. “It’s a huge void in Baroda cricket, but all of us will celebrate his life and the huge contribution he made to our great game,” says Irfan, admitting that they don’t make them like that anymore!
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