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Excerpts from the Interview as compiled by B.V.Swagath on September 2, 2005

Karsan jee how does it feel to be the coach of a big team like Mumbai? What are the short term and long term goals you are having as the Mumbai Coach?

I am not new with the Mumbai team because earlier in 1994/95, I was the Coach of the Mumbai team that won the Ranji Trophy. We won the championship then without any of our star players like Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, Sanjay Manjrekar, Salil Ankola during the knock out phase. In their absence we had a very senior player in Ravi Shastri who was the leader and we had a very young team that time. That was the time the likes of Sairaj Bahutule, Samir Dighe, Jatin Paranjpe, Amol Muzumdar…all these guys had made their debut and they delivered the goods. I mean they really fought it well and we won the Ranji Trophy in that season.

Now in 2005/06, this is my first assignment with the U22 Mumbai team in this Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup. We still don’t have the main Ranji Trophy players available playing in this tournament because most of them are away playing league cricket in the UK. But once they come back by September end, hopefully for the J.P.Atre Tournament in Chandigarh, we will have a full strength Mumbai team. I am looking forward to have a good season with the Mumbai team and it’s a challenge to me, it’s a challenge to the new Mumbai team to do well this season. And provided they work very hard and are sincere, I am sure that Mumbai’s tradition is such that for the last so many years, they have been the Ranji Champions for many seasons and hopefully we will try to hit the target.

So what do you think is the difference if any between being the Coach of Bengal and the Coach of Mumbai now?

Well I don’t see any difference as such. But of course I don’t want to say that Bengal was a bad team, I mean they are all very fine players and very talented. But unfortunately we didn’t do well. Possibly because our batting didn’t click last year, but they are a good set of players in Bengal and it’s equally the same here in Mumbai. So at that particular moment, in that particular match if a team does well, then they are the winners. In today’s cricket especially in the Elite Group, every team is tough, so we will have to fight it out well and the players in a team who hold their nerves and are mentally tough will become the winners.

Are you aspiring to become the coach of the Indian team or any other International team in the future?

I have never had the thought that I want to become the coach of an International Side. I mean whatever the job I am doing with sincerity, I am quite happy with the state team at the moment. But I don’t know what is there in the future and is in store of me, I have no ideas at all. But I don’t really aim to be there.

What according to you is the meaning of “Coaching” for 1.a beginner in Cricket 2.a first class Cricketer and 3.an international player?

For a Beginner, of course you can correct them if they are going wrong somewhere like for a batsman, if the batting grip is wrong, if their balance is wrong, if their stance are wrong, you can teach them that is for the Under 15, Under 17. But for the Ranji Trophy or the first class level, you don’t have to teach all these things. The only things you have to teach them is when they make mistakes on the field or in the nets, you have to correct them. But normally for these guys, it’s a question of morale boosting, they require lots of motivation, they require lots of confidence, so these are the things I am supposed to do. Even at the International level, motivation is the key, the confidence is the key. I mean you don’t try to teach Sachin Tendulkar how to bat and all that, you can’t teach Anil Kumble how to bowl, because these are the legends of Indian Cricket. So a Coach’s job would be to gel them together and hold them all together as a unit like one family and that is his job.

Okay let’s get to Karsan Ghavri the player and I have one amazing factoid about you. The two K’s of Indian Cricket – Kapil Dev and Karsan Ghavri played 27 matches together and their new ball partnership never allowed any opening partnership to cross over hundred runs! So how did you achieve this unique feat?

At that time we never really looked at that target, it had just happened like that. There was lot of competition between Kapil and me when we were bowling together. When he picked up a wicket, I used to get charged up to pick up a wicket too and match with him. And if I had picked up a wicket, he had done the same thing too. So it was a very healthy competition between two of us like how Imran and Sarfaraz had, like what Jeff Thompson and Dennis Lillee had. And it’s quite good, I mean when I bowled well, Kapil tried to be better than me and ultimately such healthy competition between two bowlers is useful to the team.

So how did Cricket start for the first Indian left arm pacer to take 100 Test wickets?

I had started off when I was in school at the age of 13-14 and then at the age of 16, I was picked to represent the India Schools team which went to Australia in 1968/69 and from that team we had people like Brijesh Patel, Mohinder Amarnath and ultimately we had become test cricketers later on. As far as the fast bowling is considered in India, there are hardy few whom you can count on your finger tips. May be four or five bowlers have taken more than 100 Test wickets which is really unfortunate because there should have been much more. But as time progresses, we are going to see lots of Indian fast bowlers doing well with people like Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Balaji, Ajit Agarkar, Nehra and so on. And I am sure that with some fast bowling academies coming up all over the country, I am sure that the future looks bright. Also with the wickets being improved in all the domestic and international centres, fast bowlers would be getting plenty of opportunities from now onwards.

And you were also in Bollywood, could you tell us about the short stint you had over there?

Well I was never in Bollywood really. But one of my benefit matches was covered in a hindi film and that was it. I mean I had no direct connection with Bollywood, otherwise I love to listen to good hindi film music, I love some really good hindi films and I have never done any character in any film or anything.

You had the privilege of playing the inaugural World Cup 1975, could you share with us some memories of that World Cup?

Yes first of all, it was great to be in the Indian team for that World Cup. But unfortunately the Indian team didn’t do well. At that time we just didn’t have any idea about the Gameplan or strategy and out of 3 games, we won just the one. And we just managed to win that one game against East Africa and we never qualified in the knockout phases of the 1975 World Cup and also the 79 World Cup. But the 83 World Cup was a different story altogether.

Since you have watched couple of famous Cricketing moments live, we youngsters would like to know about them. First one is Gavaskar’s infamous 36 not out in the 1975 World Cup and two is the famous win in Melbourne 1981 with a special mention about the Gavaskar's walk out.

To start with, Sunil played a very long innings of 36 not out in the entire 60 Overs. Since England had scored something like 334 runs, Sunil thought it was difficult and impossible to chase this target. So he was trying to practice Bob Willis, Chris Old and all these guys for the Test Matches. And similarly, you had mentioned about the Melbourne Test Match, that was the first time in the history of Indian Cricket, we squared the Series. If you have a look in the past, we have always lots the Test Series in Australia badly and this time in 1980/81, we had done superbly to square the series. Though the Aussies were chasing a small target of 143, they lost the final test as we bowled them out for 83. The wicket was uneven and was a two paced one. I picked up 2 consecutive wickets of John Dyson and Greg Chappell and later on in the next day, Kapil Dev ran through the side and took 5 wickets. We bowled brilliantly, we took some good catches, we fielded well and the bowlers bowled in the right areas that is stump to stump and the wicket did the rest.

About the Gavaskar’s walk out, he just walked out because he was very frustrated in that entire series. In the first test, he got out early and the same was in the second test. He had one aim and that was to score a big hundred in this 3-Tests Series, which wasn’t happening. And when he was reaching 70-75 runs and when he was given out lbw to Dennis Lillee, he was quite angry and frustrated because he thought at that time that the ball hit the bat first before hitting the pad. But according to the slow motion replay and all such things over the years, it says quite clearly that he was out and that it hit the pad first and then the bat. The same incident even Sunil has agreed many times now and that it was more of frustration, he walked out, he said that it was a mistake on his part. But he deeply felt really bad about it because these kinds of funny things should not take place on a cricket field and especially at the International level.

What was the feeling in the Indian dressing room when Sunil Gavaskar was going on and on with his innings of 36*?

Messages were being sent to him but he was just concentrating on his game and it never bothered him at all at that time. He just kept on playing all the 60 Overs.

There has been lot of mention about your bouncer; could you describe it for us?

Basically I was a left arm over the wicket medium pacer and my bouncers were my wicket taking delivery. I had picked up quite a few wickets using that because my bouncers were much quicker than my normal deliveries. For any bowler, the bouncer usually comes off quicker off the pitch and I used to bowl them most often at the right spots and the batsmen used to get puzzled, that’s how I had my success with my bouncers.

And how would you compare the present lot of Zaheer, Nehra and Pathan with Karsan Ghavri?

I don’t know… I don’t want to compare myself with those bowlers or with anyone else. But I personally feel that in today’s cricket Zaheer and Irfan Pathan and Nehra have a very bright future and they are very talented and they have lot of potential. They can serve India for a long period of time, I can only do one thing that is to wish them well, wish them best of luck in whatever they do in bringing glories to India.

Now for the sake of all those curious people who want to know about the progress of the fastest bowler in India; Munaf Patel – what’s the latest development with him?

Well he was struggling with injury last year, but if he has to reach the top level he has to do lots of hard work at the Domestic Level. He still ahs a long long way to go. First of all he has to prove himself at the first class level, because he hasn’t played enough cricket for the last 2 years. May be he had played some cricket 2 years back, but last year he was out of action completely because of his injury. So now the new cricket season is just about to begin, he has to do lot of work. One more thing is once he finds a place in the Indian team, he has to establish himself and without establishing oneself, it’s impossible to reach the top level.
 

 

Now we find lots of potential all rounders in different Cricket academies/ clubs/schools/colleges who can bat and bowl superbly but if you take a look at Indian Cricket we have struggled to get the real all rounders. Where is the potential talent disappearing?

As the time progresses, lots of academies have come up in India and slowly and steadily I am sure we would be getting some good all rounders. See we do have good all rounders now like Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao, both of them are good all rounders and are good fielders too. I am really surprised that Venugopal Rao hasn’t been used as a bowler. He’s a very fine off spinner and like this every Ranji team has one or two guys who can bat and bowl really well and they are all brilliant fielders. So as time goes on I am sure India would tap some good all rounders.

Pakistan Cricket fans always ask one question – You Indians are never able to produce tear away quicks? Why if I can ask you this?

I don’t know may be it has something to do with the diet, or something to do with the pitches or something to do with the environment. See Pakistanis have over the years has produced some fine fast bowlers and we are far behind in that. But there is something to do with the climatic conditions and the physical appearance, their diet…that can make lots of difference.

And finally before we end this talk, what can Mumbai expect from Karsan Ghavri?

Well I expect for myself and the Mumbai team only the Ranji Trophy

 and hit the target.

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