Delhi adopts Modern approach

Last year’s school captain Unmukt Chand has already made his debut in the Ranji one-day matches this season,while Manan Sharma,who passed out two batch before him,has represented India in the under-19 World Cup and is a regular Ranji Trophy player. Although Modern already had a cricketing heritage with 1983 World Cupper Kirti Azad,they had a lean patch up till around 1993 when Uday Gupte and Naveen Chopra joined as coaches.

Sachin Khurana was part of the motley group of 15 that included Gautam Gambhir and future Delhi Ranji players Rajan Handa and Rajat Bhatia who turned up under coach Uday Gupte. Bowled out for 28 in their first match against Delhi school cricket powerhouse Salwan Boys,they steadily improved to the extent that they chased down a score of 370 against the same Salwan side that had Aakash Chopra and Ashish Nehra three years later. “We had such a strong batting line up that Gautam Gambhir,who was three years younger to the rest of us,kept his place in the side only because he also bowled leg-spin,” Khurana recalls. “Till that point we had never won any trophy. After my batch passed out,students had the self belief that they deserved to win games.”

The belief rubbed on as Modern subsequently won the All India Inter Public School cricket championships fourteen times in the last 18 years. “My aim was to break the monopoly of other schools and I can say we have,” says head coach Uday Gupte. Khurana,Gupte and Chopra now run the Turf Cricket Academy in the school campus which nurses 140 players,giving them quality facilities and still attracts many of its famous alumni.

Classes in Modern School Barakhamba begin from the sixth standard,which means that students transfer from other schools though coach Gupte denies he poaches players from other schools to make his team stronger. “I have never scouted for players. Even if I did,it would be pointless since every school begins cricket coaching only from class six,” he says.

Manan,son of former Indian player Ajay Sharma,transferred from Gyan Bharti in the sixth standard. He says he made a conscious decision to shift to Modern school because of their cricketing culture.” The India U-19 batsman is clear when he says “I think we are as good as we are because we probably practise the most. Other schools practise in their off season. We never had an off season. We played almost 60 games when others were playing fewer than twenty.”

Arjun Gupta who played for Delhi in the Cooch Behar trophy adds “Honestly tell me where else do you have to practice from 6.30 in the morning even during school days. Even our teachers encouraged us to play as long as we didn’t flunk our exams. And of course the facilities were great. We’ve never had to use a ball that went out of shape!”

The school’s cricketing culture continues to inspire new and unobvious recruits. Neha Chillar a class eight student comes for net practice each day through her summer vacations and practices with the boys and plays against them on occasion. “I want to be a professional” says the member of the Delhi U-19 women’s team.

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