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.
