Natural game should not be tampered with

“I have been coaching for a long, long time now. I did not have any ambitions and did not look for awards. Cricket coaching is a challenge to me. I will continue to coach for as long as I can,” says Ramakanth Achrekar.

Ramakant Achrekar talks on his playing days, how he took to coaching and on how he moulds young cricketers.

Ramakant Achrekar, the venerated cricket coach was all humility as he accepted accolades from the unending stream of well wishers at the Kamath Memorial nets. This was a special day for him. For 25 years he had gone through the rigours of cricket coaching with zeal in Matunga, Ghatkopar, Shivaji Park and Azad Maidan. The reward had come at last. On May 20, the Dronacharya Award was conferred on him, recognising his meritorious contribution to the game of cricket.

Only two cricket coaches Desh Premi Azad (Chandigarh) and Gurcharan Singh (Delhi) had been bestowed with the Dronacharya Awards before. Achrekar has got it for the year 1990, which clearly points to the year of his pupil, 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar’s emergence as a promising cricketer. For quite some time, since December 1991, rumours were afloat that Achrekar was being considered for the Dronacharya Award. Sachin Tendulkar was more than anxious to confirm their authenticity.

“It was during the India-Australia Test series I got a call from Sachin. He was keen to know if I was to get the award. I did not respond to his question and told him to concentrate on his game. Whether I would get it or not was irrelevant, the series was important for him and India,” revealed Achrekar.

Indeed, Bombay’s prominent coach, Achrekar is a pleased man today. It took some time for the news to sink in when his family members revealed it to him. “I have been coaching for a long, long time now. I did not have any ambitions and did not look for awards. Cricket coaching is a challenge to me. I will continue to coach for as long as I can.”

In a chat with The Sportstar, Achrekar recalls his playing days, how he took to coaching and talks on how he moulds young cricketers.

Question: You have made a definite impact as a coach. You must have aspired to become a good cricketer yourself. Can you tell us something about your playing days?

Answer: Well, I used to practice at Young Maharashtra Club, but played for New Hind Club in the Kanga league and other tournaments. Unfortunately I did not get the opportunity to play for my school, which was debarred for three years for fielding an overaged player in the Giles Shield inter-school tournament. After I passed my matriculation at the age of 15, I joined Ruia College which had a star studded team and was led by Manohar Hardikar. The next year I joined Podar College at the behest of Prof. Chandgadkar. Podar was keen on building up a good side and had Farokh Engineer in the team.

It was after partition that I trained under Dattu Phadkar at Cross Maidan. My friend P. N. Temkar who was studying in Karachi settled down in Bombay and was keen to join a coaching camp. I trained under Phadkar for three months. 1 was a batsman but Phadkar asked me to take to fast bowling. Those were the days when one could play in the university and inter-office tournaments, and the need to support my family compelled me to join a textile mill. Then I had to discontinue my education and had to take up full time employment with Bombay Port Trust. Those were tough days for me and I quit the job, unable to report for night shifts.

A job with Imperial Bank (State Bank of India) gave me stability. I had worked for four mills during that time, and it was only after I scored a century against Imperial Bank that I was offered a job. In fact, I have played first-class cricket for State Bank in the Moin-ud-Dowla Cup. Our team had players like Hanumant Singh, Ajit Wadekar and Baloo Gupte.

There ought to have been more than one coach under whom you learnt the fundamentals?

Well, at Ruia College it was P. K. Kamath, and at Podar it was M. S. Naik. Before there was Sidhaye and as I said I practised at Phadkar’s camp for three months.

What influenced you to take up coaching?

Actually it was through sheer accident. In 1965 or 66, I was the secretary of the New Hind Club for which I was playing, too. Suresh Shastri, then a young and promising left-arm spinner requested me to give the ground facilities for his school, Dayanand Balak Vidhyalay, run by the Arya Samaj Trust. Since I was the secretary of the club I was at the ground everyday. During free time I saw the schoolboys practice and corrected the mistakes made by the batsmen and bowlers.

That year, Dayanand reached the final of the Giles Shield and I was literally forced by the Trustee’s son to take up permanent coaching. I was not keen at all, but the that the school reached the final made the school management happy and they thrust it on me. Next year the school reached three finals. Unfortunately after four or five years the school management decided to stop all cricket activities as the game was becoming more expensive.

 

In between I got an assignment as coach with the Hindi Vidya Bhavan, an English medium school at Sassanian. Also when I was the member of the Bombay School Sports Association I was requested by a cricketer Dushyant Mahale to coach the Shardashram Vidya Mandir team. This was in 1970-71.

It was never my intention to coach college teams. I had tried training teams of three colleges, but it was very difficult to correct the mistakes of grown up boys. I gave up coaching college teams long ago, and it was only recently when Sachin joined Kirti College, I decided to go back to train seniors. I would say this has been my second major step with regard to coaching players of ability.

So over a period of time I had under me quite a few clubs. Today in all there are 14 clubs. For the development of cricketers, club cricket is very important, because apart from school, it is the clubs which give exposure and competition. Years back this was the point I emphasised at the BCA nets in Ghatkopar and the first player who showed interest to join the club was Balwinder Singh Sandhu. And at a point of time my clubs reached eight tournament finals.

I coached very good sides then. Players like Chandrakant Pandit, Lalchand Rajput, Sharad Rao, Kiran Mokashi, B. S. Sandhu, Ravi Kulkarni represented my clubs. They all advanced to play good class of cricket. These are the boys from the Ghatkopar coaching nets.

Having been coached by eminent people must have enabled you to impart the same technique to the youngsters, but has there been an occasion when you have sought counsel or attended clinics?

Very few people know that I was asked by Prof. Chandgadkar to join the National Institute of Sports (NIS) and complete a diploma course in cricket coaching. I could not stay away from Bombay for such a long time as I did not have much leave. There was the threat of my coaching being abruptly stopped as Prof. Chandgadkar felt it would be unwise for me to coach without a proper certificate. But the BCA managing committee finally asked me to attend a clinic conducted by Vasant Amladi and Ramnath Kenny. I have been trained by P. K. Kamath, Naik and Dattu Phadkar and I became a technically sound batsman and a wicketkeeper. I have scored quite a few centuries. So it was only a matter of transferring what I had learnt to the youngsters.

I have always believed the batsman’s natural approach must be allowed to blossom. Nobody should interfere with natural ability. It is the way a batsman gets dismissed which has to be corrected. If a batsman gets out frequently to a particular shot, it has to be ensured he executes the stroke in a correct way. He has to adjust to that shot.

All my boys are of different frame. They are not of the same mould. Ramnath Parkar, a hard-hitting batsman, Praveen Amre, Lalchand Rajput and Chandrakant Pandit are different from each other. It’s a pity that Subash Kshirsagar did not advance in his career. He had immense talent and potential, he was a natural attacking batsman. But he was spoiled by some persons who changed his approach. He would have been a wonderful batsman to watch. I even chided him for changing his overall approach and attitude. Natural ability should be retained and should be shaped further and here the coach has his work cut out.

Apart from natural ability which aspect of the game do you think is essential for the development of a player?

Well, in my opinion practising at nets alone is not very important. Yes, practice makes a player perfect. But the real test comes in a match. A batsman may hit umpteen strokes in the nets, but only in a match does a batsman score runs. So the level of proficiency of a batsman is revealed only in a match. And that comes through exposure and playing as many matches as possible.

This is precisely the reason Sachin came into the limelight. I give my boys a specific number of matches and the order of batting. I instructed the captain to send a batsman at a particular number. When Sachin was 11 years old he got plenty to bat in matches. And because of him our club, Young Zorastrians, , reached the Kanga league knock-out final. Sachin made it possible.

Pravin Amre and Sanjay Manjrekar at a museum in Itala Game Reserve in South Africa. “Amre is not a batsman for one dayers now. He has the potential to become a good Test batsman. He has scored centuries and double centuries which shows he is a batsman who can play a long innings. Once he attains maturity here, like Sanjay Manjrekar, Amre can switch over to one day internationals,” says Achrekar.

 

And the beauty of it was Sachin could not play the final, because the day clashed with the inter-schools final. In fact the final was fought between Shardashram Vidya Mandir’s English and Marathi medium sections. Young Zorastrians missed two players, Sachin and Suhas Mayekar. When Sachin was in school, he was never idle on a Sunday. All my boys play somewhere or the other. It’s only exposure which will bring out the weakness in a player and which can be corrected over a period of time. I even asked Prof. Chandgadkar and V. S. Paul to arrange for matches after six weeks of summer nets. If a batsman gets a hundred in a match that is equivalent to one week’s practice in the nets.

Matches lead to experience and there is no substitute for this. I have always noted down the way my boys get out. So after playing a few matches they get an idea of the mistakes being made and try to reduce it in the subsequent matches. Even Sachin followed this system.

Has there been a cricketer on whom you had high hopes, but eventually did not make it to the higher grade?

There are many in fact. Subash Kshirsagar was one among them. There was this boy Sanjay Jamsandekar, who was in the same age group as Sachin. Sanjay lost one year after he failed to clear the 10th standard examinations. I always tell the boys to study as well. Sanjay was shy and did not show his face for one year. So the link was broken for one year which according to me is a very long time. And there were some who got carried away by the publicity they got in the newspapers. It went to their head. It was sheer bad luck with Sanjay, he failed. There is another batsman, Manish Bangera, but he is not working hard on his game.

What’s your opinion on Praveen Amre and Vinod Kambli, both of whom have played in one day internationals?

Amre is not a batsman for one dayers now. He has the potential to become a good Test batsman. He has scored centuries and double centuries which shows he is a batsman who can play a long innings. Once he attains maturity here, like Sanjay Manjrekar, Amre can switch over to one day internationals.

Kambli has a wide repertoire of strokes and can become a class player, but he is not a student of the game. Both Sachin and Kambli are equally good strokemakers, one is a right hander, another a left-hander. Kambli has power and punch. But he has to concentrate on his game. In the World Cup Kambli did not play his natural game. He played the bowlers on their reputation, whereas Sachin was not bothered by reputations. After reaching a certain level, it is the batsman who has to adjust, and Kambli has to do exactly the same. Once he becomes studious I am sure Kambli will be a tremendous success.

How do the angle wicket tournaments immediately after the nets help the trainees?

Well, we are winding up the summer camp and the single wicket tournament for different age groups is meant to encourage the boys. The winner of each round obviously gets another round to bat and the eventual winner would have ended up playing six or seven rounds.

Both Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli are equally good strokemakers, one is a right-hander, another a left-hander. Kambli has power and punch. But he has to concentrate on his game. In the World Cup Kambli did not play his natural game. He played the bowlers on their reputation, whereas Sachin was not bothered by reputations.

 

In recent years not a single bowler has emerged from your nets. Is it because you concentrate only on batsmen?

Well, basically I was not a bowler. At best I can guide them. A bowler has to make solo effort. Bowlers have to be physically very fit. But I am sure Bombay will produce good bowlers from now on with the BCA-Mafatlal Industries Bowling scheme being established, and Frank Tyson in charge of it. There have been bowlers from my nets who have played for Bombay and Sandhu played for India.

From the present nets who are the cricketers you think have the potential to develop into good first class players?

Well, I never make predictions. I pick up boys between the age group of seven and 11, conduct trials, mould them and make them play matches. During summer vacation they play at least two in a week and when the school reopens they play in many. There are quite a few who are talented, but at present I would say there are three outstanding left-handers. They are equally good and I cannot say who will make it to the top first.

This article was published in The Sportstar on June 20, 1992