Published: Jul 27, 2015, 07:30 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 26, 2015, 04:46 PM (IST)
Going Places: India’s Small Town Cricket Heroes touches on the mundane yet special lives of people and chronicles a refreshing trend of men and families from small towns fulfilling their dreams. Abhishek Mukherjee reviews the account, put together by KR Guruprasad, a well-known journalist.
A fairly vivid picture emerged in the mind when the rise of Indian fast bowler Munaf Patel was compared to the Hindi movie Iqbal by a tuk-tuk driver going up to his village from Bharuch. A semi-rural or a semi-urban town, lush fields, kids and youngsters running about, a raw, rustic nature about them unadulterated by cynicism, and loads of devotion. The driver’s observation was hidden in the chapter on Munaf, one of an XI of small-town cricketers who have represented India or have been close to it in journalist KR Guruprasad’s charming little chronicle Going Places: India’s Small-Town Cricket Heroes. Every chapter resembles the script of a short film, the only difference being that they are true stories.
Their proliferation speaks of a trend that has to be positive for India’s cricket, for the wider the variety of economic and cultural backgrounds from which players arrive on the scene, the better representation it gives of the country. The fabric of these people complements the slightly different world of those from big metros. It also points to the significance of cricket in the lives of Indians in all corners, the one thing that can have their indulgence rewarded, allow them to see the wider world, and help them churn a livelihood.
All the men who made it have had similar ingredients smattered in different ways. One of them is motivation. While S Sreesanth took fast bowling seriously due to the presence of a role model in Tinu Yohannan, who was from his own state (Kerala). Ravindra Jadeja enrolled himself under a serious coach after bickering with older boys in his neighbourhood on lack of chances given to him to bat. Virender Sehwag dreamt of playing like Sachin Tendulkar when he saw him in the 1992 World Cup on television.
The other was the discipline enforced by the coaches or mentors. Naushad Khan learnt the mistakes he made in succumbing to the attraction of participating in the local games in Azamgarh to earn some hero-worshipping from his people at the cost of serious and meaningful matches in Mumbai that would have helped him remain in the selectors’ radar. He picked youngsters like Iqbal Abdulla and Kamran Khan from Azamgarh and rendered the politics and bias in Uttar Pradesh’s selection meaningless by giving them a platform in Mumbai. He mentored to help them stay focused on their goals and guided them in their respective journeys.
Most coaches mentioned as the live-givers of their pupils, now stars, facilitated a strict routine and path for them. Jadeja was not given to bat or bowl for six months by his coach Mahendra Singh Chauhan: “I only make them clean the cricket ground, make them run a lot, and also ask them to field,” to gauge the seriousness in the pursuit. Sehwag’s coach at Vikaspuri, Delhi, AN Sharma, told him to only observe for two days after the teenager, fresh from his Class 10 examinations, asked to get enrolled under him.
But alongside the recurring theme of sweat and toil and of the satiation of coaches in turning their underdone playing careers to something tangible and meaningful, there is intrigue about the journey of players from their exotic surroundings and circumstances to the present. Munaf was saved from travelling to Africa to gather work. Ashok Dinda was saved from becoming a farmer in his village, Naichanpur, where after a long day’s toil his people would smoke beedi and play cards.
Dinda’s story seemed the most amazing — as far removed from his current reality as could be. When he recollected his earlier life and his village to the author, it seemed he was talking about another world. His volunteering to work in the fields for Rs 22 a day, encouragement provided by his mother, long train travels to and from Kolkata at Rs 30 a day and reluctance by his brothers and friends to provide that amount due to burden, the wonder and shyness he felt when he went to Kolkata for the first time, and finally how he was catapulted by a fast bowling contest in the city – Scorpio Speedster Contest – to be noticed and recommended by the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting at Kolkata Knight Riders.
Ganguly hid the news of his selection in the Ranji Trophy team to until the morning of the match. According to the captain, that saved the youngster from a sleepless night. Dinda’s pleasure in dancing in happiness at IPL parties, similar to the euphoria of Durga Puja (in his own words) was bizarre, but perhaps it made sense for someone whose surroundings and circumstances were so different that it made him view the outside world with fresh lenses.
The book doesn’t just take in the lives of people, which essentially light up a lot of cricket books, but provides colour of diversity from Jullundur in the north to Devangere in the south. It is also a reflection of the aspirations that mark the lives of millions of Indians, especially those who dream and keep working without worries, to fuel it.
Going Places: India’s Small-Town Cricket Heroes
Paperback, 166 pages
Penguin Books
(Abhishek Mukherjee is a reporter with CricketCountry. His Twitter handle is @bhejafryyy)
