ക്രിക്കറ്റ് താരങ്ങളും അവരുടെ പരിശീലകരും തമ്മിലുള്ള അഗാധമായ ആത്മബന്ധത്തെക്കുറിച്ചാണ് ഈ ലേഖനം പ്രതിപാദിക്കുന്നത്. സച്ചിൻ-അച്ചരേക്കർ, നെഹ്റ-സിൻഹ തുടങ്ങിയവരുടെ ഉദാഹരണങ്ങളിലൂടെ ഗുരുക്കന്മാരോടുള്ള ശിഷ്യന്മാരുടെ ആദരവും കടപ്പാടും ഇവിടെ വ്യക്തമാക്കുന്നു. ഗുരുചരൺ സിംഗുമായുള്ള അജയ് ജഡേജയുടെ ഹൃദയബന്ധം ഒരു ഗുരുവിന്റെ പ്രാധാന്യത്തെയും സ്വാധീനത്തെയും മനോഹരമായി അടയാളപ്പെട
I want this episode to be about the relationship between cricketers and their gurus. You know, they call them gurus, mentors, coaches or whatever. I have always been fascinated by the bond between a cricketer and the person who shaped him in his early years.
We all know the reverence Sachin Tendulkar has for Ramakant Achrekar, and what Achrekar did for him. Pravin Amre, too, came through the same system and treats him like a father figure. I have personally seen, up close, how cricketers continue to respect the coaches who were with them from childhood, from those formative days when they were still learning the game and, in many ways, learning life.
Tarak Sinha, known to his students as Ustad Ji, had so many such boys. I remember how Ashish Nehra took care of the playing field at the Sri Venkateshwara College. He would play at the Sonnet Club and cover the club's expenses, too. I remember he came back from Zimbabwe in 2001 and gave his entire tour fee to Sonnet Cricket Club to develop the field at Venkateshwara College.
Nehra's 'Guru Dakshina' is unforgettable. Sinha was known for being punctual on the ground. So one day, when he didn't turn up, Nehra wondered why Ustadji wasn't there. He was told that Ustadji was house-hunting because he had been served a notice by the landlord to vacate. Nehra felt very bad. Within a week, he gifted a house to Sinha. I remember the occasion because the house was close to mine. I went to the housewarming ceremony Nehra had organised. It was a very private affair.
Gurcharan sir, an exceptional man, has made life beautiful for an incredibly large number of people. He shaped the careers of international players such as Kirti Azad, Kartik Murali, Gursharan Singh, Maninder Singh, Ajay Jadeja, and Rahul Sanghvi. That is quite a roll-call. Some went on to have long careers in domestic cricket, but all of them carried something of Gurcharan sir with them. Among them, Ajay Jadeja was particularly close to him, and he remains so.
Gurcharan sir, honoured with the Padma Shri and the Dronacharya Award by the Government, devoted his life to cricket. He played for Patiala, Southern Punjab and Railways, and was very close to Lala Amarnath. After finishing his playing career in 1968, he did a coaching course at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) and was posted at the National Stadium in Delhi. He also worked at the Pace Academy that the BCCI had set up in Gwalior and served as the national coach for two years. He declined offers to travel as it would mean being away from the National Stadium for a certain period. That was one of the big sacrifices he made. He didn't travel, and he missed family functions because he wanted to be there for the nets at the National Stadium.
Last week, Jadeja was in Delhi on a personal visit, and we went to meet Gurcharan sir at his academy. It was a wonderful experience simply watching the two of them together. We saw some wonderful things. Every evening, Gurcharan sir insists on coming to the academy from his home, which is about six to eight kilometres away. His son brings him to the academy every day to watch the nets and the little children play. Gurcharan sir is 92 now. He is in a wheelchair and is unable to speak, but he can still observe and comprehend what is happening around him. Jadeja, of course, was full of banter. If you sit with Jadeja, it is just banter. He can regale you with anecdotes for 24 hours, if you let him. But beneath all that banter is this extraordinary devotion to Gurcharan sir. Jadeja was not a regular cricketer to begin with. In fact, the story of how the two first met is quite amusing.
There was a match that Members of Parliament played at the National Stadium every year. They would also go to Gwalior to play when Madhavrao Scindia hosted them. On one such occasion, Jadeja's father, Daulatsinhji Jadeja, a three-time Member of Parliament from Jamnagar, was also playing. They were travelling to Gwalior, and Jadeja tagged along.
That was when he first saw Gurcharan sir and noticed the respect he commanded from all those Members of Parliament. Jadeja was impressed by him too. His father then complained to Gurcharan sir, "This boy doesn't go to school. He runs away. What do I do?" Gurcharan sir said, "Let me see what I can do. I'll tackle it." He then went up to Jadeja and told him, "Next time you run away from school, come to me. Jadeja says, "Sir was the first person who actually encouraged me to bunk school and come to him." That was how the association began, at the National Stadium in New Delhi, very close to India Gate. It was an iconic place, and Gurcharan sir went on to give so many cricketers to the country.
I would say Jadeja was one of his favourites for many reasons. He was very gifted, very talented. You should have seen the happiness on Gurcharan sir's face when Jadeja came to meet him after some time. At the same time, Jadeja was deeply pained to see his condition. He said, "Oh my God, I just can't imagine Gurcharan sir not standing on the field. That was the sir I knew. He was always the first person to come to the National Stadium and the last to leave. And he spent an enormous amount of time with the ground staff. If he wasn't with the players, he was with them."
Gurcharan sir's philosophy was simple: Cricket is played for cricketers. Yes, they are the stars, but, according to him, the real stars were the groundskeepers who prepared the fields and the pitches. Gurcharan sir understood their work because he worked alongside them.
I have also grown up as a journalist, going to the National Stadium, which was two kilometres from where I lived. In my early days, I would go there three or four times a week in the evening and watch the players practise. That is where I learnt cricket because Gurcharan sir was always there to explain things to me. And when I think about the relationship between a great player and his guru, I am reminded of another wonderful example: Kapil Dev and Desh Prem Azad.
Kapil never forgot the man who shaped him. He promoted and respected his coach, Desh Prem Azad, throughout his career. That, to me, is what makes these relationships so special. You may become a world-class cricketer, you may become a national hero, but somewhere in your memory there is still that first coach who saw something in you before the rest of the world did. That is what a guru can mean to a cricketer.
Jadeja recalled an incident from how he got to play in the Ranji Trophy. He was practising at the National Stadium and had played some junior cricket for Delhi when Kapil suddenly came onto the ground and requested Gurcharan sir to allow the youngster to travel with him. Jadeja, who had represented Delhi in junior cricket, had been selected to play Ranji Trophy for Haryana. Kapil had come to take him with the team that was leaving for Srinagar in a few days (in October 1988). Jadeja always felt this happened because he was getting the right cricket education from Gurcharan sir, who had such a reputation that Kapil needed very little convincing that this boy was ready to play in the Ranji Trophy after training with him.
What I loved most was the way his students cared for him. Jadeja and I were there for almost three hours, and he kept telling me that Gurcharan sir had not just taught him cricket. He had taught him life. "He taught us to be good human beings, how to be helpful, how to make the most of things and how to face challenges," Jadeja recalled from one of his tours to England with Gurcharan sir. "He would make the boys do all the work. If we stayed in a Gurdwara, it was not simply to save money. It was to inculcate camaraderie among the players and to teach them that all times would not be luxurious. You had to make certain adjustments in life. You might be sleeping on cosy beds one day and on the floor the next. You might have to do the dishes or cook your own food too. We learnt all this because of Gurcharan sir," Jadeja told me. And that was the other side of Gurcharan sir. He wasn't just teaching cricket. He was preparing these boys for life.
Gurcharan sir was also known for helping them find jobs and ensuring they could look after their families. There is one incident, narrated by Gurcharan sir's son Amrinder, which shows exactly what that meant. "We were practising at the National Stadium when dad saw Ajay Sharma standing there. He had come to meet a player. My dad asked him if he would like to take up a job. Sharma grabbed the chance. Dad sent him to Punjab Stores, a shop in Khan Market, to get an application typed. Ajay returned with the application, and Dad personally took it to a senior office in Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC). The next day Ajay got the appointment letter," recalled Amrinder. Sharma retired from CWC as a Deputy General Manager.
See how this job was created. It was unbelievable. I must mention here that Sharma played for Sonnet Club, which had a bitter rivalry with the NIS team. When you look at cricket today, everything is so professional and, more importantly, so protected. You can't imagine a coach doing all this now. I am sure they still do it, but nobody has the time because of the volume of cricket being played. For many cricketers now, of course, cricket is a full-time profession. It wasn't back then. They had to take care of their families because cricket wasn't getting them enough money.
Jadeja says he learnt all the intricacies of the game from him simply by listening. They would play league matches, and sir would be there, giving them first-hand advice on what to do. Those, Jadeja says, were priceless insights from a man who had seen cricket and life.
The coaches at Gurcharan sir's Academy are not reputed names. They have all completed Level 2 with the BCCI, and he has given them jobs so they can dedicate themselves to training young people. And the talent was wonderful. There were two children, Yuvaan Shukla and Atharv Pande, both not even seven years old. Jadeja fell in love with their skills. One was bowling left-arm, tossing the ball, and the other was playing some remarkable shots. I am sure we are going to hear about these kids in the junior circuit.
As we drove back from the academy, Jadeja said something that, for me, summed up the whole relationship. "If I get a life again, if I have to be born again, I would love to have the same life, where I become a student of sir and learn the best things of cricket, the best things of life."