“My mother died and I couldn’t handle the circumstances. Just that,” Sadanand Viswanath’s voice suddenly became emotional as his co-passengers in a second AC train compartment, which included an American tourist, a cricket reporter and a young businessman, heard in rapt attention. It was a journey from Gwalior to Delhi after the completion of a Ranji match and Viswanath, then a domestic umpire, got talking about his brief but eventful international career of three Tests and 22 ODIs. His finest hour was a stumping of Javed Miandad off another teenage prodigy Laxman Sivaramakrishnan’s bowling.
‘Siva’ (then 18) and Viswanath (22 at the time) crash-landed on the TV screens of Indian drawing rooms during the spring of 1985 and before the autumn of 1986, the talented duo had fallen by the wayside.
They were “kids” back then, who perhaps needed a supportive shoulder and people around them to provide sane advice.
More than a decade later, Vinod Kambli, after back to back Test double tons, suddenly lost his way and stories of indiscipline, instead of his rasping slashes over point, flew around at speed of knots.
Perhaps, none of them had a well-intentioned man of honour and integrity like 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi has in Rajasthan Royals’ head coach Rahul Dravid.
Bihar Cricket Association president Rakesh Tiwary, along with the Rajasthan Royals management, Dravid and Vaibhav’s father Sanjiv, are trying to create a safety net around the teenager, whose life has changed after becoming the youngest ever centurion in IPL’s history.
“Rahul Dravid sir has taken Vaibhav under his wings and he has spoken to his parents and also BCA president Rakesh Tiwary ji. Vaibhav’s parents have been told to pay heed to any advice that comes from Dravid sir regarding the development of their child.
“He has a special talent and well-intentioned people need to do their bit in order to help Vaibhav realise his full potential,” a Bihar CA official, who has closely monitored Suryavanshi’s growth, told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
WV Raman, one of the most respected coaches, who has worked a lot with India U-19s, tried to put things in perspective.
“He is a baby and he knows no fear. This is just the start,” Raman told PTI, adding: “Suryavanshi ripped all the manuals that dealt with traditional batting approaches to smithereens in Jaipur.” But Raman believes that for the kid to flourish, it would be important that the family, especially the parents, have their feet rooted to the ground.
“He is 14 and there will be decisions that his parents will take for him and those decisions will be very important,” Raman said.
Sivaramakrishnan believes that with a massive support system available, Suryavanshi need not worry unlike their era when he and Maninder Singh had no one to talk to about technical issues that cropped up in their game.
“Batters are much easier to guide. To guide a bowler, you need thinkers. Me and Manni (Maninder Singh) were straight out of school when we played against Pakistan and West Indies as 16 and 17-year olds.
“We had just come after the quartet of spin greats. Cricket wasn’t still a full-time profession and there was no technical support or knowledge,” he recalled.
When a former first-class cricketer, who has worked at the NCA and extensively handled young cricketers in franchise universe, was asked about how can Suryavanshi be protected, he had several insights to offer.
“You want to protect Suryavanshi? Frankly speaking, you can’t because that’s the nature of the beast. He is 14 and he will make mistakes and through trial and error know what is right.
“There is a ‘Shubman Gill Highway’ and a ‘Prithvi Shaw ByLane’. He will have to choose the road he traverses and obviously parents will have a role,” he said.
After the IPL, Suryavanshi will have to go to NCA (COE) U-19 camp, where he will enter as a “star”, who has hit Mohammed Siraj and Ishant Sharma out of the park.
“And for all you know, kids are kids and they can be brats. And why not? But will coaches at COE be in awe of him or give him the freedom required while working on his game?” he wondered.
He then gave some practical inputs.
“If you say Rahul Dravid will look after him round the year, that’s a impractical. Rahul is a team coach and not private coach like Abhishek Nayar, who has the mandate to decide every aspect of Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s career.
“Let me give you a more direct example. Suppose a well-intentioned man gets a an agency to manage Vaibhav, for say 20 crore guarantee for four years plus endorsements.
“But then another agency reaches his parents with a Rs 40 crore deal, what happens then?” he forces one to ponder.
He then goes on to explain in detail, the many other distractions that would be at play as Suryavanshi grows.
“After 60 days with RR, he is on his own. There would be local politcians, who would order him to come for functions and stand on dais to get photographs. He has at least 14 support staff working for him at RR, five to six may be in Bihar and another 10 at ZCA/NCA (COE).
“Add parents and agents, there are 45 people directly and indirectly involved in decision-making and trust me 40 of them would be useless. But can those five, who are ready to think critically, get that freedom? The Suryavanshi Success story lies somewhere in between these aspects,” he pointed out.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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