Tarak Sinha: The unsung hero
Posted on May 15, 2008 at 10:27 | Updated May 22, 2008 at 16:49
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Tags: cricket, cricket special, Tarak Sinha
Top-flight cricket is in full bloom with the IPL. Elsewhere in the merciless heat of the Capital, however, aspiring wards at the Sonnet Club are going through their paces to prepare for a gruelling season ahead.
They are not just battling the cruel summer afternoon, but are also keen to impress one person who is watching each and every move they make at the nets. For, they know of Tarak Sinha's credentials, which will have a significant bearing on their cricketing future.
If the name of the club, perhaps the most formidable in Delhi cricket, rings of an illustrious past, it owes as much to its co-founder and head coach as it does to the names it has given to the state as well as the nation.
These names include Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Sharma, Atul Wassan, Ashish Nehra and Aakash Chopra, the last of his pupils to earn a place in the Indian Test team. Even Virender Sehwag knocks a few under his keen eye, while another one of his blue-eyed boys has been making all the right noises in domestic circuit for quite a while, and now in the IPL – Shikhar Dhawan.
Ask him of his wards and he lets slip a rare smirk. "I've been lucky to have students of such quality come to me. It's not that they were blessed with sublime talent, but it's their commitment that has taken them as far as they have reached."
Blatantly modest or brutally honest one would ask. It's quite certainly the latter as he lets out Sonnet's golden coaching rule. "We embody the aspect of coaching one-on-one. When a new child comes in, we try to identify his level of skill and grade him mentally. Everyone has qualities. We just try to tap it. Match-winning abilities and talent come later," he says as he sorts out a budding trainee. "The heel should land first while going for a drive. If the toe goes first, the shot will naturally go in the air."
Into his 39th year as head coach, Tarak 'Sir' has often been referred to as the poor cousin of some of the more illustrious names in cricket's coaching circles.
The number of cricketers who have taken their formative steps under Sinha and have represented India are staggering for a city with hundreds of cricket academies. However, the coveted Dronacharya Award has surprisingly not found its way to his cabinet.
The Dronacharya is awarded on the basis of a coach's contribution over a period of three years. "The first time I applied, Ashish Nehra was one of the standout performers during the 2003 World Cup. Prior to that, the Indian women's cricket team, which I was in charge of, won 5-0 against England in an ODI series, while their overall performances during my tenure were outstanding," he recalls.
Yet, the Dronacharya award eluded him. "My son applied for me on two other occasions. But what will I show now?" he laments as silence engulfs fellow colleagues and Aakash Chopra, sitting next to him.
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