Its all about Passion Honey

I am back to picking these pearls from Gennext Cricket Academy where I am now very much a part of the family. There are two things that you can do on a Cricket Field. One is to train as a player does and become a better player or you can pick up pearls that I keep picking up and become a better human being. Of course you are most welcome to do both, physical exercise for the body and chicken soup for the soul.

It does get even better for me now ever since Ashwin got to know me better and its this access to his space that allows me to pick up these pearls for free. Once upon a time the pearls implanted themselves at RKM Grounds T. Nagar, have since moved to Loyola College. It was just two days back when I decided to pay a humble visit to the facility. Ashwin had just arrived and as is customary with him, started to prod a youngster here, give a piece of advice to someone else in another net. He has many a time mentioned that coaching is his passion and I could clearly see it in action on this day.

There was a left handed wicket keeper batsman in one of the nets, honing his skills, was not able to get his shots right. The grip, the stance while batting, the posture,the Timing, the forward push while reaching out to the ball, everything seemed awry.  Here is where the conversation becomes very interesting. Hear on:

Ashwin: "Listen, First of all hold the bat like a Pencil, your grip should be like that." Well in layman terms that was a very simple instruction to follow. The boy nodded and did just that.

Ashwin continued: "Your posture should be like you are sitting on a chair, so bend and make your posture as if you are sitting on a chair" The Boy followed implicitly as he was told

Ashwin: "Close your eyes and only open them when I ask you to open them" The Boy did not have any option but to follow the instructions coming from his legendary coach.

Meanwhile Ashwin instructed his coach to throw the ball underarm, slowly and simultaneously asking the boy to open his eyes and play the shot. Still not satisfied Ashwin wanted the entire exercise repeated, having instructed the boy to do all of the above and play the shot with one hand. So the Grip the Bat like a Pencil, Your Posture should be like sitting on a chair, close your eyes, open your eyes instructions went on for the next fifteen to twenty minutes till Ashwin himself was satisfied with the process. I do not know if the boy quite understood the enormity of the situation, that he was being mentored by Ashwin himself and even if he did not I would not blame him for that because he was so young. One day for sure he will live to tell a tale to his grandchildren about how he was taught to hold a bat like a pencil and how to sit on a chair. Pearl One Picked up: If you have a passion for something, you will get deeply involved in it even if you have embraced peaks of greatness. I could clearly see Ashwins deep passion for coaching, his personal involvement of mentoring and giving back to the game as much as he had got from it.

Move on to the next boy, a left arm spinner this time. I will not go deep into this conversation but just the crux of the conversation. Ashwin was explaining to this young spinner on how well hard work pays off in the game of cricket and how difficult it had been for him to reach the top levels. Ashwin mentioned that if he wanted to be a top notch player, he had put in tonnes of hard work, time clearly not being a factor. He has to keep bowling at the nets endlessly, hours together, not mindful of the clock ticking by. These are the young boys who I wish and pray that they follow their passions to a logical conclusion, which is to play and represent India at the highest level. What they have achieved so far is to be mentored by one of Indias Greatest Cricketer and a very fine human being Ravichandran Ashwin. This according to me is the biggest pearl that they have ever received. Q.E.D