SPORT 25

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2016

SIZING UP CRICKETS FIRST-EVER 1K

Pictures tell a 1,000 runs: 25 chances,

10-year-old pacers, 30-yard boundaries
Dhanawade cracked crickets maiden 1000-run knock, but it was a mismatch of a contest on an odd-shaped venue
BHARAT SUNDARESAN & SRIRAM
VEERA
MUMBAI, JANUARY 20

The Arya Gurukul pace quartet: (L-R)

Ayush Dubey, Srath Salunkhe, Mayank
Gupta and Pratik Bedekar. Deepak Joshi
(Below) Pranav Dhanawade

Dhanawades playground

30YARDS

32YARDS

Kalyans Wayle Maidan is where KC

Gandhi Higher Secondary Schools
Pranav Dhanawade made an unbeaten
1009 against Arya Gurukul.

PIT
CH

Bahut gussa aa raha tha, he says.Kudh pe?

you ask him. He looks up at you, shakes his
head and then trying his best to look and
sound menacing bellows, Uspe.
Ayush Dubey is 10, around 44 tall and is
in the fifth standard. He bowled 23 overs
across two days when Pranav Dhanawade
produced the greatest innings ever played in
the history of the game, numerically speakingthatis.SarthSalunkeishalf-an-inchtaller
andisAyushsclassmateat AryaGurukul.He
had opened the bowling at Kalyans Wayle
Maidaninarguablyoneof themostlopsided
sportingencountersever,andbetweenthem
the two diminutive pacers bowled half of
the overs. Apart from getting angry at him,
Ayush the scrawnier of the two also reveals having asked their tormentor to give
his team a break. But to no avail.
Bas kar na. Aur kitna marega? I told him.
But he asked me to go back and said Ja, ja
bowling kar. Aur bahut maarna hai.
Incidentally, Ayush nor Sarth, both U-12
cricketersatbest,weresupposedtoplaythat
game. Not only were they not in the same
age-group or league, they werent even the
right size. Neither had played in a match
where bowlers could bowl more than nine
overs each. They hadnt bowled on a pitch
longer than 16 yardsthe norm for under12 matchesor held a full-sized ball in their
hands.
But their bowling figures will remain
etched in folklore from here on as much as
Dhanawades 1009 off 323 balls that pushed
the reaches of cricketing imagination to new
horizons. Not to forget the dimensions of the
odd-shapedvenue,theutterlackof competitionandthe25chances22catchesandthree
stumpingsthat the 15-year-old survived.
By the time we head to Kalyan in search
of the stories behind the epic, 10 days have
passedsincethebusytownship,some40km
away from Mumbai, turned into the cynosure of the cricket world. The previous
evening incidentally had seen the Mumbai
Cricket Association (MCA) throw a gala felicitation for the rickshaw-drivers son, where
he had been honoured by president Sharad
Pawar, even if he kept referring to him as
Pravin. It was the crowning glory of a week
that saw Dhanawade turn into a worldwide
phenomenon, with his posters adorning
most streets around his hometown, and his
rags-to-riches tale being told and retold
around the globe.
The dust has now settled on his epochbreaking feat, and life has returned to normal in Kalyan. Most of those postersexcept
the one outside KC Gandhi English School,
have now been replaced with the routine
fare of political standees. But the aftermath
of the humiliating defeatby an innings and
1382 runsstill rankles at Arya Gurkul, an
upmarket institution located up a craggy
road and in the midst of otherwise proletariat establishments in Kalyan Easts
Nandivili village.
Coach Yogesh Jagtap cant stop ruing the
fact that he couldnt go in with his full-

Dhanawade hit 129 fours and 59 sixes

at the rectangular-shaped ground on
which leg-side boundaries measure 32
yards and 30 yards.

Dhanawade became a star overnight,

with Sachin Tendulkar congratulating
him on twitter and the Mumbai Cricket
Association felicitating him.

THE MARATHON MAN

Frontline to backroom, Bhandari makes

seamless transition as wards corner glory
SHAHID JUDGE

MUMBAI, JANUARY 20
SNOW FELL unusually thick and fast in the
winter months of 2000, reducing whatever
limited visibility was available at night. But
that could not be used as an excuse. Surinder
Singh Bhandari had to keep his eyes peeled
for any unnatural movement. He had recently been posted to the mountainous terrain just a few kilometres off the IndiaPakistanborder.Itwasmorethanayearsince
theKargilWarhadended.ButBhandari,who
was among the soldiers standing as the second line of defence, recalls that the dust hadnt quite settled.
Just a year earlier, Bhandari was learning
the tricks of the trade. Wartime stipulation
nonetheless quickened his training process
and the then 22-year-old was sent to defend
the border. Often hed remember his friends
from his village during that time. But he
knew the only friend that mattered at the
moment was the AK-47 he brandished. And
often hed have to use that friend. We had
to fire several rounds of warning shots in the
air and also a few some metres away from
any illegal movement we saw on the other
side, he recalls. We all made it a point to
shoot far away, but visibility was never that
good during those winter nights. Still, I dont
think I ever killed anyone, he adds.
Those questions still come to his head to
this day, 16 years later. But they no longer
dominate his thoughts. Now, at 38, Bhandari

has found a sense of solitude. He serves the

ArmyasanathleticscoachattheArmySports
InstituteinPune.Moreimportantly,hismind
is occupied in devising the training sessions
for his three students Nitendra Singh
Rawat, T Gopi and Kheta Ram all of whom
have qualified for the marathon at the Rio
Olympics.
The last time three Indian men qualified
for the marathon of the quadrennial event
was back in 1960, at Rome. Since then the
country has struggled to put forward runners to compete in the 42.195 km race at the
Olympics.ButBhandarihasbroughtupthree
in one go.
Rawat had already qualified for Rio when
he beat the 2:19 qualification time at the
World Military Games in October. And at the
Mumbai Marathon over the weekend, the
29-year-old established a new course
record, beating the legendary Ram Singh
Yadavs 2:16:59. Gopi too beat the qualification mark in what was his debut marathon,
and so did Ram.
Bhandari explains the proud walk he
boasted as soon as he saw his students cross
the finish line. The trio had done well for
themselves, but at the same time, they had
lifted a heavy burden off their coachs shoulders. Some people keep saying that just becauseImanOlympiandoesntmeanIcanbe
a good coach. The boys have proven them
wrong, he mentions.
After spending three years in Kashmir,
the Subedar of the Garhwal regiment who
had joined the army on general quota, de-

SURINDER SINGH BHANDARI

cided to switch to the services sports programme, and took to running the 5,000 and
10,000 metre events. In fact, at the 2008
Beijing Olympics, Bhandari set the national
record in the latter event, clocking 28:02 a
mark that still hasn't been beaten.
Nowthathisstudentshavequalifiedforthe
Olympic Games, he looks back at his own life
andfindsthathewasalwaysmeanttobeassociated with athletics. Hailing from Ghandiyal
village,situated2,200metresabovesealevelin
Uttarakhand,thegeographydidwelltomould
his body to support athletics.
We had to walk at least 10 km up and
downhilltoreachschool.SometimesIusedto
get late, so I had to run to be on time. Steadily
the lungs also got big so the stamina improved, he says.
But just a year after he set his still unbeaten record, his own running career was
cut short because of stress fractures on both
his ankles. It was disappointing because I
never got to hit my peak. I was forced to re-

tire but the sport was all I knew. So I got into

coaching, he states.
AnotherthreeyearsspentattheNational
Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala, Bhandari
became a certified coach and was posted
back to the Army Sports Institute in Pune in
2012, where his own running career started.
Incidentally, his first students were
Rawat, Gopi and Ram, along with Naveen
Kumar the 3000 metre steeplechase
bronze medallist at the 2014 Asian Games.
Its a strong bond he shares with his students.Itgoesbeyondthecoach-studentbarrier. Were actually good friends, he asserts.
Im still a recent athlete. Im 38 and Ram,
who is the eldest is 33. So there isnt much of
a generation gap. That way they dont fear
me like theyd fear elder coaches. They treat
me like a peer and that helps me understand
and help them better, he adds.
The trio, like their master before them
were also once 5,000 and 10,000 metre runners. Soon though, they decided to make the
switch to marathon running. In Bhandari
however, they found a comfortable mentor
to work with.
Now that the three have qualified for the
Olympics, Bhandari has found himself running short of time to contemplate the questions that poked his mind. Before the run in
Mumbai, he trained the trio at the high altitude facility in Ooty for five months. Were
going to continue training here till March,
which is what was earlier agreed upon. After
that we'll have to figure something else out,
he explains.

strengthteam,principalVSrinivasanisinthe
process of organizing a session for the playing XI with a counsellor while the 9th and
10th standard boys, who Dhanawade would
have faced ideally, are baying for payback.
Sir ek rematch karao please. Hum phir
dikhayenge usse,oneof themtellsJagtap.He
simply smiles as if to say, If only I could.
Funnily enough, the rag-tag outfitmade up
under-age kids from 5th, 6th and 8th standardsthatdideventuallytakethefield,and
gamely so, seems the least affected by the
dramaticoutcome.Maybetheyrenotyetold
enough to realize its enormity.

Sloppy Baroda
hand over
trophy to UP
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JANUARY 20

IN a tepid affair, Uttar Pradesh probably read

the slow pitch better and scaled down their
expectations to bat in a measured way to
reach 163, which was enough to overwhelm
Baroda who meandered helplessly in the
chase. A shoddy Baroda also dropped four
catches and saw a wicket of a no-ball as
everything went pear-shaped for them.
SureshRainahita37-ball47withoutever
dominating after opener Prashant Gupta
made 49 before the Chinaman bowler
Kuldeep Yadav produced a quality spell in
the chase to remove Barodas star batsman
Hardik Pandya and the in-form Deepak
Hooda to seal the game.
Baroda were let down by the men who
had performed so well in the tournament to
take them this far. Irfan Pathan, who had
taken 16 wickets in the games prior to the final, couldnt find any swing and leaked 44
runs. Hardik Pandya who had played a couple of furious knocks at this venue last week,
earningquiteafanfollowing,couldmakejust
13. Similarly, Hooda eked out just 15. Yusuf
Pathan continued with his disappointing
tournament, making a laboured 27-ball 14
and the game ended in a whimper.
The star of the chase was Kuldeep Yadav
with that double strike. He broke the ball
back into the right-handers, and also sprinkled enough googlies to keep the batsmen
honest.HegotonetodriftacrossPandyawho
tried to whip it straight but ended up scooping it back to the bowler. And after teasing
Hooda with his variations, he slowed up the
pace on one, inducing Hooda to hole out to
long-on. No batsman was comfortable
against him and he ended up with impressive figures of 4-0-12-2.
It wasnt just their batting that let down
Baroda but their fielding too that did them
in. Raina was given a reprieve on 32, when
wicketkeeper Pinal Shah missed a stumping
chance.Shahwasinvolvedinanotherchance
whenhefailedtoholdontoalungingchance
to his right, off Munaf Patels bowling, that
could have got rid of the top-scorer Prashant
Guptaforjust5runs.PiyushChawla,whohit
a 13-ball 17, too was dropped on 1 when
Yusuf Pathan clanged a catch.
Nothing went right for Baroda. Munaf
Patel was mobbed by his teammates after it
seemed he had induced Prashant Gupta to
mistime a pull to midwicket but the television replays confirmed the umpires suspicion that he had overstepped for a no ball.
On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh did just
aboutenoughwithouteverextendingthemselves. They reached 73 for 1 in 10 overs and
pushed on a bit in the next half to end with
a competitive total. Raina started with a
crisply punched on-the-up hit over covers
off Munaf Patel but settled down to clip and
drive for singles and twos. He hit the occasional boundary without ever going berserk
to end up on an unbeaten 47.
The victory meant a lot to the UP boys.
Amid fist pumps and hugs, the lucky few
grabbed the stumps, and the support staff
dashedouttothemiddletotriggermorecelebrations. As the presentation ceremony
ended, someone in the Divecha Pavilion
stands found a gate ajar and around 30 odd
fans ran in to partake in the celebrations.
BRIEF SCORES: Uttar Pradesh 163/7
(Prashanth Gupta 49, Suresh Raina 47 n.o.;
Bhargav Bhatt 2/13) beat Baroda 125/7
(Soaeb Tai 26 n.o.; Ankit Rajpoot 3/30, Amit
Mishra2/33,KuldeepYadav2/16)by38runs.

Local boy Rupinder

guides Delhi to victory
NITIN SHARMA

CHANDIGARH, JANUARY 20
Rupinder Pal Singh scored twice from
penalty corners to set up Delhi Waveriders
5-4 win over hosts Punjab Warriors at the
Hockey India League on Wednesday.
The Sector 42 hockey stadium in
Chandigarh is where Rupinder honed his
skills during his growing up days and the 25year-old returned home after five years to
guide his team to victory.
RupindersteammateYuvrajWalmikiput
Delhi ahead with a quick reverse flick from
inside the box in the ninth minute. Matt
Ghodes restored parity for the hosts, guiding the reboundhome following adeflection
of teammate Satbir Singh.
With the scores tied 2-2, it was
Rupinders turn to show up. This edition of
theHILhaswitnessedaflurryof goals,thanks
to the rule which makes a field goal count as
two. With field-goal scorers ruling the roost,
Rupinder showed that goals from penalty
corners can still end deciding the match.
He scored his first following a deflection
in what was Delhis second penalty corner.
Rupinderwouldagainplayhispartinthevisitors next goal when his rasping shot was
partially parried by Warriors goalkeeper
Tristan Clemons and Mark Pearson did the
rest. The penalty corner specialist then
added his second in the final quarter with a
low drag-flick that raced past Clemons.
I always wanted to play at this stadium,
said Rupinder, who was adjudged the man
of the match.
The Warriors fought back, with
Christopher Cirello scoring the third goal in
the second quarter before Mark Gleghorne

Rupinder Pal Singh scored two goals

for Delhi Waveriders
converted a penalty corner in the last quarter. But their inability to convert three
penalty corners in the last two quarters cost
therm the match.
Delhi Waveriders benefited from the
presence of Mandeep Singh and Talwinder
Singh upfront as the duo regularly created
chances.Theyalsoworkedalongsidecaptain
Simon Child to mop up any loose ball when
the Warriors attacked.
Our focus has been on the forwards
working hard in defence because when the
opposition attacks the forwards are the first
line of defence. Mandeep and Talwinder
showed that today and assisted Child well,
DelhiWaveriderscoachCedricDSouzasaid.

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