Cricket Coaching to Develop Endurance Athlete

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True Story

Cricket Coaching to Develop Endurance Athlete

Recently, I was watching young boys playing Cricket and I was reminded of me playing for India U-15 Cricket team which I had dreamt of and remained a dream!

At 12, I was a tennis ball cricket Legend. I was my Ajanta building C-Team’s captain with real chance to be promoted to the B-Team.

One of the cool things about playing with a rubber ball especially in Ajanta ground is how it turned every kid into bowling prodigy. Experts talk about wrist positions or finger placements to master spin; you don’t need any of that nonsense. Here, the moment it hit the ground, it spins, cuts, bounces, leaving batsmen (and bowler) clueless.

But my legend status is more due to my achievements with the bat – off the Cricket field. My tennis ball bat is regularly oiled and I tape it around the edges and bottom. They remain intact because when our Team C bats, the ball hardly touched the bat. You know how these cricketers knock their bat with a wooden hammer (“bat mallet”) to keep it in good condition.

I want to do the same for my tennis ball bat. However, I do not have a wooden hammer, so I used the regular hammer.

KHATAAAACK …

I hit it so hard that it Cracks open into 2 – Now I have a mongoose bat and a piece of wood.

Ek din mai socha, Ye tennis ball cricket Career kahan tak jaa sakta hai?  You can go only so far!  At the most, I will be part of the Ajanta A-Team and play Inter-building bilateral matches. If I really want to do justice my extraordinary cricket talent, I must play with leather ball. It has a clear pathway to professional cricket!

I announce (just like Sachin announced years later) … “Mai Khelega. Mai Leather Ball Cricket Khelega”

I convince my dad to send me to a Leather Ball Professional cricket coaching Club.

Shockingly, he agrees.

“Dada, I want Cricket Whites” I demand.

He replies casually, barely looking up, “You already have it. Just wear the Saturday school uniform.”

My blood boils, and I can feel the steam rising from my ears.

I look straight into his eyes and ….

“WHITE HAI MANA… PAR WO HALF PANT HAI … DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW SERIOUS CRICKET IS? THIS ISN’T SOME GULLY CRICKET WITH OLD MEN LIKE YOU! YOU EXPECT ME TO STAND NEXT TO GUYS IN PROPER CRICKET WHITES, LOOKING LIKE I JUST ESCAPED A GULLY TENNIS GAME? THIS ISN’T A COSTUME PARTY, DAD! CRICKET WHITES ARE SACRED! IT’S ABOUT RESPECT FOR THE GAME.  {dramatic pause…}

NOTHING DOING. I WANT A CRICKETING WHITES”

Aisa maine socha , bola nahi.

I just shook my head and walk away. Dada ek baar bol diya.. Uske baad Khud ki bhi nahi sunte!

My sister giggles. And brother is grinning ear to ear.

I meet the coach, and he asks me to report an hour early, and naturally, I assume he wants to give me a special one-on-one session to unlock my hidden genius.

Brimming with excitement and visions of greatness, I show up at the lush green Cricket ground. We at Anushaktinagar are blessed with many grounds.

Groundsman is waiting with 2 other boys my age – Naushad and Baburaj.

“Set up the nets,” he barks.

What Nets? I ask innocently.

“He will explain you” pointing at Naushad.

OK. I murmur

I carry the Nets – bamboo poles and cloth net and place it next the concreate pitch.

Now Get the Mat. This Mat is a heavy coir monster that needs three of us to lift and drag it across the ground. We roll them on the concreate. The Khadus Groundsman instructed us on how to set it up.

By the time we were done (and exhausted), the seniors and the Coach arrive. Seeing the Coach, I have a surge of teen hormones kick in—I am suddenly extra ready to show off my talent.

Coach looks at me and points at the Stadium Gate “Go and stand near the boundary line”.

“Phew”

And then he continues “OBSERVE the batsman and Bowlers. And if ball is hit in your direction, get it back to the bowlers”

“BUSKYA SIR, I didn’t get my binoculars. How can I observe from that far ?!?”

 Aisa Maine Socha.. _________ (Correct!)

Anyway, I go and stand INSIDE the boundary line.

Very soon, the seniors started hitting the ball so hard and long, I am running all over. I felt like a human ball-fetching dog.

A senior strides towards me, and my heart starts racing. “Yes! Finally, my turn! Batting? Bowling?” The anticipation is electric—I’m ready to grab the spotlight!

“Go and get me a bottle of water from the cooler.” I sprint to the cooler like Usain Bolt, fill not one but two bottles (because, you know, overachiever), and run back. I hand them over with pride… only to be met with a casual, “Good. Aur do leke aa.”

“In 15 mins, Time for a game on the real pitch in the centre” Coach announces loudly.

The Groundsman – Yes, the khadus one! – looks at me and few others and orders us to get the Roller —a huge iron beast meant to flatten the pitch. And orders “Push it to the centre and roll it for 10 mins! Six of us pushed and strained like we were pulling an stubborn elephant uphill.

In 15 mins, we are all set.

I am desperately trying to make an eye contact with the coach. I want him to know I am here and he needs to send me to bat. And when finally, our eyes lock, the coach smiled and said,

“Boundary line fielding!”

He then says the most dreaded rule “1^st Misfield, Four rounds of the ground, 2^nd Misfield 8 rounds… 3^rd You get the point” . Now, I am really worried. Game begins. As if it was a planned thing – most of  the balls were hit in my direction. And given my extra-ordinary fielding skills, I was running the rounds all the time. And People today think I am a natural at long distance running.

Some batters hit the ball so hard and so long that it sails over the boundary rope and goes into the “Jhaadi” – it is a mini jungle. I kept searching and searching the ball. Over time, I became expert at fetching the ball. I was invited to search for the ball even when it was on the other end of where I was fielding.

Senior Vikas Singh joked “Jitu ke liye Boundary line fielding = Run-the-rounds-and-fetch-the-ball Training.”

This routine continued for weeks – few months actually but felt like few decades. Come early, set up nets, roll mats, Roll the Pitch, Get the water, field at the boundary, fetch the balls, misfield, run rounds, and finally pack everything back into the godown. Every single day, I was a Net-Boy, Mat-Boy, Ball-Boy, Fetch-Boy, Water-Boy, Runner-Boy!  

Meanwhile, my tennis ball cricket performance plummeted, and I am on the verge of being dropped from the C-Team of Ajanta.

I am faced with the ultimate choice—Tennis Ball Cricket or Leather Ball Cricket—I make a bold decision: I quit cricket and embrace my “punishment” – Endurance Running. After all, that is the only consistent skill I honed at Cricket coaching.