Sunil Gavaskar once told this story about Vasoo Paranjape, his sharp-witted mentor and one of the most respected coaches in Indian cricket. The two men were driving in Paranjape’s car, when the latter missed a traffic light. It was mounted higher than usual on the pole. A cop stopped them and asked, “Didn’t you see the signal?”
Paranjape said, “The one up there? I thought it was for planes.”
No signals, however, escaped Paranjape’s radar as a talent scout and coach. He spotted the diamonds in the rough. He noticed errors if they crept into someone’s game or mindset. Nearly 82, he has been tracking cricket for 70 years, first as a fan, then as a player for Mumbai, Baroda and Dadar Union, and finally a coach.
Paranjape’s instruction and happy camper persona impacted the careers of generations of cricketers like Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Anil Kumble and Rohit Sharma. The values he imparted helped players in their lives beyond cricket too.
Paranjape’s son Jatin, who played for India and Mumbai, and is now a national selector after spending many years working for Nike in Europe, recently compiled a book on his father’s life and career. Cricket Drona, For the Love of Vasoo Paranjape (Penguin) includes essays by Gavaskar, Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
“As athletes you get involved with coaches at an impressionable age. The coach is often your first idol. The chiseling a coach does is not just limited to the game, but also character,” Jatin says, when asked how the teachings of a sports coach could be applied to life as a whole.
“Milind Rege (former Mumbai captain) was a long-time protégé of my father at Dadar Union, where the credo was to play hard but fair. He later converted that into a successful corporate career with Tatas. The teachings even helped me when I was at Nike. It [the sports equipment business] was a three-four horse race. But I learnt to respect the opposition and that they too were out to win.”
Gavaskar, India’s first superstar of the media and television era, is known for his disciplined life even at age 71. He juggles various commitments, watches what he eats and rarely misses a workout.
“Where did that discipline come from? It came from Dadar Union, from [the likes of] Vasoo Paranjape, Madhav Mantri and Vithal Patil,” says Jatin.
Spotting talent is one thing, helping it blossom is another. Jatin credits his father for fast-tracking the growth of cricketers all over the country. The list includes Rohit Sharma, who in a few hours will lead Mumbai Indians against Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
Jatin says, “Nowadays many Mumbai cricketers come from north Mumbai. But when Rohit was coming up in the early 2000s, Mumbai players were still mostly from central areas like Shivaji Park. Rohit came from Borivali and felt a bit like an outsider. Not many people knew about him.”
Vasoo Paranjape, however, had seen Sharma play and liked what he saw. In fact, for the first time since Tendulkar was he this excited by a prospect. An U-17 talent scout for Mumbai at that time, Vasoo Paranjape recommended to the selectors that Sharma be picked in the Mumbai Under-17 team, which he was.
Sharma had some struggles with consistency early in his career. One day in that phase, the phone rang in the Paranjape household. It was Sharma. Not for the first time in the history of Indian cricket, a star in the eyes of millions, but one privately vulnerable, asked Paranjape Sr, “Sir, what am I doing wrong?”
Vasoo Paranjape gave Sharma some technical advice and told him to think like a captain. “My father spoke to him from a building an innings point of view,” says Jatin. “He asked him to play to his strengths – which was to play shots. But he also told him to watch the game from the other end, and ask himself that if he was a captain, how long would he want to be at the crease?”
Another small advice that helped Sharma was to “always look for a single”. When that thought took root in the head, the “what if I get out first ball” thought was pushed out.
“There was an automatic shift in mindset,” says Jatin. “Now you call them sports psychologists, but I feel the best psychologists are the senior pros in the dressing room.” And coaches like Vasoo Paranjape.
