Published: Oct 04, 2014, 02:32 AM (IST)
Edited: Oct 06, 2014, 06:03 PM (IST)
Though he had a short International career, Debasis Mohanty was one of the best pace bowlers to have represented India in One-day Internationals (ODIs). Of all Indian bowlers with over 50 ODI wickets, Mohanty ranks sixth in terms of both average and strike rate. He is currently the head coach of Odisha. In an exclusive interview with Sandipan Banerjee, the former Indian speedster talked about his career, coaching, the current Indian bowlers, and many untold facts.
Excerpts:
CricketCountry (CC): You had one of the best One-day International (ODI) careers for India but you only played 45 matches. Your career ended by the time you were 25. Do you think this is injustice to your career?
Debasis Mohanty (DM): Well, whenever I played for India, I tried to give my best for my country. Though I only played 45 games, in those 45 matches I gave everything for the team. My job was to perform, which I did. So I have no regrets about my career.
CC: You are the only bowler to take 10 wickets in an innings in the Duleep Trophy. The performance came against a strong South Zone team which had Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. Take us through that historic spell.
DM: It’s nice memory. That was an important game for us. We won the toss and decided to bowl first. During my playing days in the initial spell I always tried to put the ball in the right areas and take two or three wickets with the new ball. I did the same in that game as well. It was nice to get players like Dravid and Laxman out, but for me not only those two wickets, the whole spell was special.
CC: You made your ODI debut in the 1997 Sahara Cup in Toronto as the leading bowler of the team. How was the feeling?
DM: It was my debut series and I wanted to give my best. I don’t know about the tag of leading bowler of the team, but we had decent young bowlers like me, Abey Kuruvilla, Harvinder Singh. Also those conditions suited my kind of bowling. I wanted to get best out of those conditions. Apart from us, Sourav [Ganguly] bowled really well in that series and made our job easier.
CC: The 1999 World Cup was one of the highlights of your career. Take us through the World Cup and the spell against Pakistan.
DM: That World cup was a great memory for me. As a team we did well I feel. Talking about the spell against Pakistan, I took the new ball and bowled from a different end initially. That spell was bit expensive. Azhar [Mohammad Azharuddin] asked me to bowl from a different end, and that worked for me and the team. Though I did not get any wicket I managed to bowl tightly.
CC: You had a good Test debut in Sri Lanka, but you played only one Test after that. In fact, you never took another wicket after that four-wicket haul in the first innings you bowled in. What exactly went wrong?
DM: I made my Test debut on the backdrop of the historic 952-run match. I made my debut in the second Test of the series and took four wickets. The next Test I played was at Mohali against Sri Lanka. I don’t know what went wrong but as I said earlier, I don’t have any regrets about my career.
CC: Do you think you could have been better handled by the captains you have played under?
DM: Handling a particular player is the job of the captain. The way I was handled was probably the best possible way for me according to my captains. I did whatever they asked me to so, I am not the right person to comment on this.
CC: You replaced Michael Bevan as the coach of Odisha. Some of the other former Indian cricketers like Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun, who did well in the domestic circuit, were given the opportunity to work with the Indian team. So do you think the trend of appointing foreign coaches in Indian cricket is changing?
DM: I don’t think it’s changing yet, but it’s good to see people like [Sanjay] Bangar, Bharat [Arun] getting their rewards for doing good work at the domestic circuit. I feel India have enough coaching talents and whoever is doing well in domestic cricket should be encouraged and should get recognition.
CC: Why is Odisha not producing enough International players these days?
DM: I took the job of coaching Odisha team as a challenge. We have enough talents. Players like Natraj Behera, Biplab Samantray, Basant Mohanty are doing really well.
CC: Death-bowling remains India’s problem. Among the current Indian bowlers, who are bowlers according to you can be the depth bowler for India in next World Cup?
DM: With the new four-fielders-outside-the-circle rule death-bowling is a problem for most international teams. I think Mohammed Shami has bowled really well at the death-overs for India in recent times. He can be one of India’s death-bowlers in World cup 2015. Apart from him Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Varun Aaron have been doing well recently. I think the trio of Shami, Kumar and Varun can be a good combination for India in the upcoming World Cup.
(Sandipan Banerjee is a reporter at CricketCountry. Cricket has been the biggest passion for him since his childhood. So, when it came to choosing his career, he chose to turn his passion into his profession. Apart from cricket he likes mountain trekking, river rafting, and photography. His twitter handle is @im_sandipan)
