Dinesh Lad: The burnisher behind the scenes

It's amazing how often chance encounters shape new worlds. Twelve years ago Dinesh Lad, cricket coach in Gorai's Swami Vivekananda International School (Mumbai), took a liking for a 12-year-old Rohit Sharma who was bowling innocuous off-spins in a summer camp.

About two years back in an inter-school game, 14-year-old Shardul Thakur fascinated Lad. Turning up for Palgar's Tarapur Vidya Mandir School, Thakur — full of bones then — was generating good pace.

Lad got both Rohit and Shardul enrolled in Swami Vivekananda International School so that their cricket could bloom under his watch. Rohit's journey thus far in international cricket does not warrant re-telling. Shardul's is a curious story. Remember how this boy galloped into record books slamming six consecutive sixes in an over in the Plate division of the Harris Shield.

Indian cricket owes its assembly line to the likes of Lad — men at the coalface who are conveniently understated.

Lad got involved in coaching through a fortuitous design. In 1992 when Lad was still playing for Western Railways, his friend Nitin Parlekar sought his assistance for a summer cricket camp at Goregaon's (Mumbai) Prabodhan ground. "I started giving individual attention and just got too involved in it," Lad recalls.

We have heard it said that coaches have an eye for talent, but is it as simple as that? "It is partly intuitive," Lad says. "For a batting talent we look at finer things like stance, head-position, body balance. But more than that it's the inner material that sets apart the unique from the good."

He reminisces his playing days, "I learnt my cricket under Ramakant Achrekar. I loved tennis ball cricket and used to run away from him, reluctant to face the leather. But Sir always chased me down to drag me to the nets. Probably he thought that I had the potential. I didn't go far as a player but my boys must."

Matches, only matches

Lad's style of coaching is a touch different from that of Manoj Tiwary's coach, Manabendra Ghosh, whose boys don't tire of doing shadow boxing till they perfect their game.

"I have never believed in shadows or drills. For me the best way to groom a player is make him play matches. That's what made a Sachin Tendulkar. At the nets you don't hesitate stepping out of the crease since you don't have the fear of getting dismissed."

Previous articles:

Manabendra Ghosh: From coach to mentor

Achrekar 'Sir': Champion maker at dusk

But there is one quality both Ghosh and Lad share in common: unreasonable love for the game. Lad says, "I have associated myself with Vivekananda School in an honorary capacity. I don't want to take up coaching as profession. I lived in a 10 x 10 sq. ft area. Cricket gave me a job with the Western Railways. Today I own a flat without borrowing money.

"Yes, I too need a bit of wealth to shelter raw talents of the calibre of Shardul. But I do not want its corrupting influence to thwart mission. I want to give back something to cricket that has given me so much."

A staggering year

Swami Vivekananda International School's golden run, under Lad, started in 2006 when it became the first team in suburbs (in 104 years) to win the Giles Shield.

This year the Vivekananda School won three major tournaments: the Harris Shield, the Khichadia Cup and the Boost Cricket Cup. What makes this feat even more special is that Vivekananda became the first team in the suburbs to win the Harris Shield that started in 1896.

Lad's countenance lights up at the mention of middle-order batsmen Shivam Mishra, and all-rounder Pratik Gawli who is also part of the Mumbai under-17 squad.

Dilip Vengsarkar, who watched the Giles Shield finals two years ago, was lavish in praise of Gawli. "I have never seen anybody bat so straight at this level," the chairman of selectors beamed.

Siddesh Lad, Lad's sixteen-year-old son, is making ripples in school cricket. In the final of the Boost Cricket Cup, he plundered the Anjuman-I-Islam High School bowlers to hit a match-winning 135 off 81 balls.

He smashed 11 sixes in his knock clearing Police Gymkhana's 64-yard boundary effortlessly. We are told six of them landed on the railway tracks.

Lad is understandably restrained in talking about Siddesh but not when the conversation veers towards Rohit. "People often say without thought that Rohit is laidback. I tell them that the lazy do not score runs. Mark my words, he (Rohit) will soon make it to the Test side."

Previous articles:

Manabendra Ghosh: From coach to mentor

Achrekar 'Sir': Champion maker at dusk

More Headlines from Specials

• For Kartik, it's country first, cash later

• Ganguly to kick to glory now

• Barring few incidents, IPL was good: Zinta

• Gambhir gets a chance to play Test cricket

• Castrol Asian Cricket Awards