One year of Modi government; One foot in front of another

Exactly one year back I was looking for a coaching academy for my son who is a budding cricketer.

Our first stop was the oldest academy in town. This academy, as we were told, is over 100 year old and was established by some English gentlemen.

The adviser at the academy told us, “Batting, bowling and fielding skills provide no guarantee of making it to a Ranji team, leave alone getting a national cap. The key to making it large lies in being visible to the selectors. If one is visible at the right time and right place it would not matter that your son believes that leg glance is a page three term and extra cover is an insurance phrase.

What is needed is an image building plan; a campaign to showcase the qualities & traits, which would appeal to the selectors. We would create an audio visual of your son playing all the exquisite cricketing shots, straight drives that remind people of Tendulkar, leg glances that evoke Rahul Dravid, off drives that evoke memories of Ganguly or some scintillating writy pulls only Lakshman could play. We would include some clips of your son sleeping on the Cricket ground to demonstrate his commitment to the game, some more videos where your son is seen presenting his ideas about emerging trends in Cricket. We just need some commentators to herald your son as a game changer and we are done!

Selectors are human beings, neither the smartest ones nor the most hardworking. They lack the skill to analyse batting or bowling average data and do not have the time to view videos to check technique or skill but they get influenced by the narrative that is defined by the commentators & armchair analysts which, we influence.”

Well! We were speechless but wanted another option.

Second option turned out to be a messy affair. There were ten reception desks and as we walked in and expressed our need for coaching, they began jostling, pushing each other to claim their right on the new customer i.e. us. It was with great difficulty that we found the opportunity to slip out & escape.

Our third stop was a newbie in town, claiming to provide free cricket coaching with a guarantee of making to national team within 49 days. We were elated and asked them to explain their methods. They did so, “Traditionally cricket has been a fixed game between batsmen and bowlers. In one game bowlers let the batsmen score centuries and in second, batsmen let bowlers run through the batting order to give you the impression of a fight but most of the time it is fixed. We would show to the world that the all the players have been bought to perform and hence useless. The selectors would have no option but to select team from players under our wings. We have some commentators as coaches to help create the right atmosphere which selectors cannot ignore.”

Well! We moved to our next stop.

“Does your son have the drive, the sincerity and the commitment? Can he practice 16 to 18 hours a day? Can he think, dream. breathe Cricket all the time?” The adviser at our next stop began.

“Cricket is not a photo-op. Nor is it about watching scoreboard all the time or manipulating it. The commentators don’t matter most of the time. What matters is whether you can use your talent, skill and temperament to play the ball on its merit.“

“And Cricket requires hard work. Lots of it. Our academy is open 24 hours but can he put in the required hours? And there is also a matter of time. First one has to break into state Ranji team and only the exceptional performers for two to three years at that stage get the national honours. Is he upto it?”

Well, in hindsight, now, it seems we made the right choice.

Last one year has seen some great innings consisting of delectable straight drives, booming off drives, exquisite square cuts, delicate leg glances, some mediocre ones too which did not go as planned, a few failures due to unread swings and unexpected spin but overall, it has been a great year. Off course, the commentators have been upto their task, generating the controversies, but none of them have affected the morale. 

We may not have reached there, but we are moving ahead, putting one foot in front of another, discovering new strokes, building on temperament, improving on strengths, working on weaknesses, gaining respect of the critics and public every day and future, suddenly, looks better.


Much better than what it did last year. Or the years before that.

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