Mumbai: Professionals have been part of Indian cricket for a long time. From the great Holkar teams led by C K Nayudu to Vinoo Mankad, who played for a record seven Ranji teams, this was a regular practice in the early days of the domestic tournament.
But it started to die away as teams began to concentrate on home grown talent. There was the odd success story though. For instance, Sandeep Patil captained Madhya Pradesh from 1988 to 1993, leading them to the Ranji Trophy semi-finals in 1992-93; Chandrakant Pandit later took Madhya Pradesh to the Ranji Trophy final in 1998-99. In the 2000-2001 season, Ajay Jadeja played an odd game for Jammu & Kashmir and inspired them to an outright win over his former state side, Haryana.
A seasoned stalwart is always a welcome addition to the squad and the recent expansion of the Ranji Trophy has seen more teams opt for the grizzled veteran who can teach the ropes to the youngsters.
In a team of talented players who lack experience, getting a seasoned professional to captain is a good way to get the best out of them. Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association’s decision to appoint Paras Dogra has proved it.
At 41, Dogra, playing professionally for J & K, captained them to the Ranji Trophy championship. It is the most difficult tournament in Indian domestic cricket. But he got his players to defy massive odds and helped them lift their maiden title.
Chandrakant Pandit, who has built a reputation by helping state cricket teams win titles first as a captain and now as a coach, calls Dogra’s impact the key to J & K’s success.
He saw how Dogra marshalled J & K’s players when he beat a strong Madhya Pradesh side, coached by Pandit, in the quarter-final.
“It makes a huge difference because you look up to an experienced and successful player. I don’t want to take my name but a man like Dogra, a man like Sandeep Patil, or the late Ashok Mankad, they always wanted to win. They have the mission to win the trophy, they create the culture in the team,” said Pandit.
“You can have quality players, but if they don’t know they can win the game, who brings the confidence?” Dogra provided the confidence. On the field (against MP), I could see how aggressive and positive he was. The way he used to give the ball to Auqib Nabi, ‘you have to bowl now’. Sometimes the captain or the coach will get the best out of a player, probably he has to be a bit harsh on him (the main player), but time will tell you this is how he has won the trophy,” said Pandit.
The highlight of J & K’s fairytale season has been Nabi’s bowling. In the knockout matches, he was simply outstanding. Pandit is known to work diligently to form his strategy for the opposition. But this time his team, Madhya Pradesh, had no answer against Nabi’s incisive bowling.
Playing against MP in MP, the pace bowler led J&K to a memorable win with a 12-wicket haul. Overall, he finished as the highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 60 wickets and was named the player of the tournament.
Asked if he was a national selector, would he pick him in the India Test team?
“I will definitely pick him. I always believe that a man in form should always be given the opportunity because after one year you don’t know if he will be as effective. We should immediately test him. Bowlers like Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar all these players got the opportunities after doing well in domestic cricket and they did well in international cricket, may not have delivered for that long. But justice has been given to them, similarly justice should be done to Nabi,” said Pandit, domestic cricket’s most successful coach having coached Vidarbha to two Ranji titles and MP to one apart from helping his home team, Mumbai, win the tournament earlier.
“Nabi even has the ability to bat. The best part is he is not a bowler restricted to small spells, he keeps bowling long spells. He is not going to stop after five or six overs, if required he will bowl non stop for 12 overs. He bowled long spells against us.”
