Big opportunity arrives… And Motwani hopes to make most of it

Motwani’s captaincy graph has had a few similarities with that of his idol Mahendra Singh Dhoni. While Dhoni began his tenure with the World T20 victory in 2007,Motwani began by winning the 2010 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy,India’s premier domestic Twenty20 tournament.

This was Maharashtra’s first piece of domestic silverware in 75 years. Motwani says that the win was a shot in the arm for a team of youngsters who were battling a barrage of criticism. “The Mushtaq Ali win instilled in us the belief that we could challenge for higher glories,” he says.

Rohit Motwani has been the Maharashtra captain for three domestic seasons now and says each year as the captain has taught him something new.

When he first took the reins,he admits that it was a bit intimidating to lead older players. “I had doubts over my abilities as captain. I had led age-group teams for Maharashtra but leading the senior squad was something completely different,” he says. However,barring the initial doubts,Motwani’s tenure as captain has largely been positive as proved by the team’s promotion.

Another reason for the positive results has been Motwani’s rapport with outgoing coach Shaun Williams. “Shaun gives us confidence. What Shaun did was to allow us to be ourselves and express ourselves on the field,” says Motwani of the Australian. “He always tells us that there are no right and wrong choices on the cricket field.”

Maharashtra will be coached by Englishman Dermot Reeve for the 2012-13 season and Motwani is upbeat about the effect that the new coach can have on the Maharashtra players.

Motwani knows Reeve’s methods,having worked with him during the Maharashtra Premier League with Raigad Royals. “Reeve focuses a lot on mental toughness. In First Class cricket mental toughness is very important,” he says. “He is quite an innovative coach and focusses on strengthening basic skills,which is very important in four-day cricket.”

Rajasthan’s mercurial rise from the Plate league to claiming back-to-back Ranji titles has won admirers all over the country and Motwani is one of them. “Rajasthan showed that if you have determination,you can go all the way. Their victory has given us a lot of hope and we have keenly analysed their performance and are looking to replicate it in some way,” says the stumper.

Maharashtra showed a glimpse of those lessons last year when they won the Ranji Trophy Plate division and topped West Zone in the Vijay Hazare one-day tournament. But Motwani says they still have some way to go to step up to the next level.

“We need to kick on from strong positions and consolidate our gains. That is something we did not do last season,” he says.

A product of Maharashtra’s youth-first policy himself,Rohit says he is all for youngsters to come in and stake a claim for places in the side. “We have some talented players like (Vijay) Zol and Mohsin (Sayyed) who are knocking on the doors of the state side and that is always a good thing. I was given a chance when I was 17 and I would definitely like to see more youngsters come in and challenge for places.” he says.

Maharashtra will be playing in the B group of the Ranji trophy this year. The group includes domestic heavyweights like Delhi,Baroda and Karnataka among others and qualification out of the group is Motwani’s immediate target. The youthful squad that Rohit Motwani inherited has now matured and Motwani is ready to make a statement of intent. “People need to understand that we are not boys anymore. We are men and we want to win,” he says.