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| When you watch your hero practice in front of your eyes, he becomes your role model - Suresh Raina |
Small towns don't get many opportunities to watch international cricketers play live. A lot of fans have come here to watch you in action, to get your autograph and possibly a picture with you. At one point of time, you were on the other side of the boundary. What was your experience like?
In 1998, when I used to live in the Sports Colony in Lucknow, there was an India match in Kanpur and Sachin (Tendulkar) was playing. That time it was difficult for me to reach there. So I became a ball boy over there. For me it was a big deal to look at him. When you see a star on television and then you see him for real, it is a very big deal for all sports fans.
Cricket has an altogether different passion in our country. That is a good way to motivate yourself. When I met Sachin, I felt very nice. When I got a scholarship from Air India, I used to play Times Shield in Mumbai. Sachin used to come and practice there. While you watch your hero practice in front of your eyes, he becomes your role model. You look at how he plays and then when you see your hero live again, you want people to recognise you just like him. You too aspire to play for your country. The kind of activity that players do on the ground serves as a morale booster. It becomes a motivation for kids from smaller towns and villages. At least, it made a huge difference for me. I don't know how other people look at their idols, whether they become happy or they learn something from them.
I remember when we played Times Shield Trophy, Hrishikesh Kanitkar was our captain. In those days, he was a big name. Narendra Hirwani sir, Dilip (Vengsarkar) sir and Pravin Amre sir were also there. Sachin sir had a friend in Customs - Atul Ranade. I was playing a match for his team in which I scored 264. After the match got over, he (Ranade) promised me that he will get me one of Sachin's bats. That time I wondered who is he and why would he give me Sachin's bat? So when he came with Sachin, who had four bats in his hand, I knew that one of them was mine.
That time he told Sachin, 'This kid is from Uttar Pradesh. He's got a scholarship and is playing Times Shield'. Sachin wished me good luck. So that time it was a big deal for me. When you do well and your role model praises you, it's a different turning point of sorts.
Even from UP when (Mohammad) Kaif bhai played and we won Ranji in 2006, it suddenly started going uphill for players from small towns. Dhoni bhai had been playing since 2004. He got the captaincy and since then, many more kids have come up. Be it (Mohammed) Shami, Manoj (Tiwary), VRV (Singh), (Manpreet) Gony or Joginder Sharma. Joginder's father owned a paan shop. Now, Sachin tweeted for the boy who scored 1000 runs (Pranav Dhanawade). That is a motivation for him. He will remember this all his life. It is a big deal for his family and people close to him. When they go to sleep, these little things help kids dream big. And you never know, if you dream big, maybe it can even come true.
Did you eventually get a bat from Sachin?
I did get a Larsons bat signed by Tendulkar. I have 200-250 odd bats. Since the beginning I loved bats. My house was in Muradnagar and the bat factory is one hour away from there. If you ask anyone in the Indian team, everyone is behind my bats. They are our bread and butter.
Do you have a bat museum of sorts?
I've made it like a museum. There are bats from the IPL. Matthew Hayden had given me a mongoose bat. Michael Hussey had given me a bat with which he scored a century in Ashes. The bat broke during the course of the innings. He had signed it for me. (Muttiah) Muralitharan sir had signed a ball for me. I've also kept that. Dhoni had signed a t-shirt for me and gave me before his last Test.
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| People were constantly asking when Dhoni will retire. It shouldn't happen like that |
Nobody had a clue (about his retirement). He came up to me and said that 'I have an extra large (jersey). This is Double XL. Keep this.' I got a hint that he was going to do something. So I got it signed and asked him the next morning. It was his last day. He was having his breakfast and not talking to anyone. So I thought something is going to happen in the evening. As soon as the Test match got over, he called everyone and said that he wanted to say something. That time I knew that he was going to retire. It is a difficult time for a player. He slept with his t-shirt on the entire night. Ishant (Sharma), Ash (R Ashwin), Virat (Kohli) and me were all sitting in his room. He said, "After tonight, I'm not going to wear the white jersey."
People were constantly asking when he will retire. It shouldn't happen like that. A sportsman works very hard. He has played for so many years. He was on a tough tour. Log duwayein denge to acha hai (It is good if people pray for your success). Luckily he is a strong character.
Even today, despite numerous achievements, there is a lot of criticism that comes his way...
That is people's thinking. As a captain, you have to take all the responsibility. If you lose, you will be criticised. Even if you win, there are people who will criticise you. When India won a match in Indore, Dhoni had said, 'People are waiting to criticise you'. He doesn't want to say it. But then he realises that the water has flown over the bridge. So it was time to take some water off with a bucket.
Just because he is quiet doesn't mean that people can go on saying whatever they feel like. Only once he retires, people will realise what he has achieved for the country. When a thing is present in the house, people take it for granted. Only when it goes missing do they really understand the importance of it.
When the Indian team needed a good wicketkeeper-batsman, he emerged. He created a good Test team and handed it over to Virat. Now even in ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals, the day he feels like, he will quit from these formats too. At the end of the day, you need the trust and respect of your teammates. Everyone has money, everyone has dal-chawal to eat. You work hard to get respect inside the dressing room and outside.
Right now, he needs support. If he gets a bit of support, you never know. The next World Cup (World T20) is in India. He won it in 2007 and has won it in 2011 as well. He has also won the Champions Trophy in 2013. For any captain, it is difficult to break Dhoni's record.
How has IPL helped Indian cricket?
Nowadays a lot of kids from small towns get to play in IPL. They get to play for India, earn money and look after their families. They can consult good doctors. There have been players in whose families, members have suffered from cancer and they have been able to afford the medical costs. People don't see that. They just see the glamour. They don't see the hard work that the players put in on the field. Everyone gets their due. No one gets any more or any less.
There is a lot of money with the BCCI. When the board is earning so much, definitely there will be an improvement in the infrastructure. When there are more matches in small towns, cricket certainly improves. I had said it earlier as well that players from every state should come up. When IPL happens, people from far corners of the country come to watch.
IPL has given a lot of exposure to a lot of players, even though it has been a bit controversial. But that is the case with sport everywhere in the world. If you see the positives, cricket has reached out to a lot of small towns, be it Rajkot, Kanpur or Cuttack.
The thing about small towns is that there aren't good enough facilities. So kids get to improve if they get that kind of facilities. BCCI is doing a lot for them. If matches reach these small towns, awareness will increase among the kids. Kids will come from smaller towns to play for India. So many fast bowlers come up from small towns. In IPL, there are so many players people have never seen.
There are players from UP as well like Akshdeep Nath and Prashant Gupta. Kuldeep Yadav got to play for India purely based on his performance in IPL. He hadn't even played a first-class match. They realise that the stage is good and if they perform well, they will directly get to play for India.
Players get exposure. For example, if you are from KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders), you will get to learn from Jacques Kallis, a person from Kings XI Punjab will understand how (Glenn) Maxwell thinks. A player from Mumbai Indians will get to see how Ricky Ponting thinks. When we were in Chennai (Super Kings) we got to know how (Stephen) Fleming thinks.
Each one of them have their own thought process. Look at how well the ODI and T20I squads have shaped up for India. For India as well, we have performed well in limited-overs cricket. We have gone abroad and beaten sides. For Mahi (Dhoni), it helps to build trust and know that a player will do well if he gives him a chance.
How did Dhoni's confidence in you help?
During the 2011 World Cup, I wasn't in the playing XI. Gary (Kirsten) had told me that I will play, but I wasn't picked initially. One day before the quarterfinal (against Australia), Gary came up to me and said that I would play. Dhoni came up to me and said "Jaakar bindaas khelo" (Play freely). I was feeling the pressure of the occasion. I came at a stage when the top order was dismissed. We needed 90-odd runs to win with Yuvi paa (Yuvraj Singh) at the other end. Had I gotten out at that point, my cricket career would've ended. But I didn't think like that. I wanted to win the match and go to the semi-final and play Pakistan in Mohali.
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| There is a lot of learning in the IPL for younger players |
I made a useful contributions in both the semifinal and quarterfinal. Those two knocks that helped India win the World Cup are most memorable.
Does having multiple coaches help a player?
Different players need different coaching methods. For me, I don't like having too many people to coach me. I need to know how my game works, how my mind thinks. All I need is a bit of fine-tuning. Gary used to motivate me, MS tells me to go and play my natural game. Hayden and Hussey were like that. They all think alike.
Does the external pressure of performing stay with you when you go out to bat or are you just thinking about the match situation?
In India, the pressure is too much. God knows how many news channels are there. That isn't the case abroad. So the expectation increases, you become an important player, you bag their trust and then you are expected to deliver in every match. So to win the trust of people takes a long time. It doesn't happen overnight.
Now it has been 10-11 years since I started playing. Pressure used to be there earlier when I started playing for India because No. 6 is such a position that if you fail in two matches, you can be out of the side. If I played higher up the order, I would've averaged 48-50. But when I'm batting down the order, the average of 36-37 builds more pressure. In a sport where there is a lot of money and talent involved, pressure is bound to be there. But at the end of the day, these things shouldn't matter because you are playing to win the match for India. You are not playing for tomorrow. You are playing for the opportunity, you have got to play for today.
When I went to play against Pakistan, the run rate was slow. MS told me to pad up and play. I made a 39-ball 36. Some players score at a good strike-rate. There are all kind of players - Viru paa, Yuvi, MS. They have all performed and been important for the team's cause.
The importance of fielding has gone up considerably since you made your debut. How do you view this change?
Fitness levels have changed. Just by being a good batsman or a good bowler, you cannot get into the team. You need to be a good fielder as well. One dropped catch can turn the match. There are different fielding drills that we have to go through. You have to train well.
Nowadays there are good doctors, trainers and physios with the team. You have to eat and train properly. Ajinkya (Rahane), Rohit (Sharma), Virat, Manish (Pandey) and (Ravindra) Jadeja are all good fielders. No one would've thought earlier that India can be among the top three fielding sides in the world. Everyone says that you need to be a good batting side or a good bowling side, but fielding is also equally important now. That is why we managed to reach the World Cup semifinal.
A lot of teams play football during practice sessions. Why this fad?
That is just for warming-up. I'm against football. I don't like playing football because you can get injured with that. But we play safe. We play three-touch football. If you try to tackle another player, there are chances of someone getting injured. Your ankle could break and you could be out injured for a few weeks.
You had said earlier that you would like to see players emerging from Orissa. What is your view on the current cricketing scene here?
Biplab (Samantaray) has been doing well. He scored a century recently. The selectors are certainly taking note of such performers. If he continues to do well and gets selected in the IPL, maybe he can play for India A or even India.
A few years back when Sahara was the sponsor here, quite a few players from the state had come on to play for the country. Debasis Mohanty, Shib Sundar Das emerged. But since then, no one has come. There was a player who used to play Under-19 with me - Sumit Biswal. He was a very good player. But an unfortunate incident happened and he missed cricket for a year. It is also about a bit of fate as well.
Uttar Pradesh has become one of the strongest domestic sides in the last ten years. What has brought about this change?
There is a hostel there that also has a sports college. Boys are constantly playing matches in Delhi, Nainital, Dehradun and other places. They play 40-over matches as well as day matches. Many players even have jobs in ONGC, HPCL or in Air India. It has all been commercialised.
Do you think Test cricket is dying?
The craze is increasing in T20s. I was watching a Big Bash match. Over 80,000 people had come to the stadium to watch that. There is more entertainment for the crowd in this. In Test matches, if you see crowds aren't coming to the stadiums.
Luckily, it is improving now. When Sachin retired, the crowd reduced. When Dhoni went, the crowd support went further down. Now you have Virat, who is leading the side well. It is good if such players play for India because fans come to watch their heroes. Why else would someone sit under the sun for five days? They too have to earn their livelihood. T20 is better. It starts at 8 pm. You can sit on your dinner table, prepare your dinner have it while watching the match. In case it is boring, you can switch off your television and go to sleep.
Although there are many T20 leagues coming up, Test cricket and ODIs are doing well. ICC is constantly making efforts to make all formats interesting. There is a lot of commercialisation. The game is changing at every level.
Earlier, a bowler had to bowl 30 overs to get two or three wickets. These days, you are playing on turning tracks where players are getting out early. Batsmen are attacking. Matches are becoming result-oriented. With time, it is all changing. The demand is such, so you have to play accordingly. At the end of the day fans need to be entertained, fans should have a smile on their face when they leave the ground - be it Test cricket or limited-overs cricket.
