Spotting talent, letting it slip

Set up in 2002, the TRDW was charged with identifying potential — based on criteria other than just score-sheets — and monitoring its progress through various agencies like the National Cricket Academy and eventually the state teams. Radically, it did away with the system of zonal patronage because TRDOs from one zone would assess players from another.

This seemed to be the perfect model for junior cricket and, according to the BCCI, would eventually reap results in a couple of years. But three years later the results are still pending. As Makrand Waingankar, who helped devise the system, remarks, ‘‘Talent is resourced, but the development is just not happening.’’

It’s professional, in that each of the 20 officers is paid handsomely (see box), as is their boss, but that’s where ‘‘professionalism’’ appears to begin and end.

The main problem seems to be lack of coordination, with a haphazard schedule of matches for the officers to cover. Sure, they watched 300 of the 325 junior (U-15, U-17, U-19 U-22) matches played this year but the impact has been lost.

‘‘Col Nair (who chalks out the TRDOs’ travel plans) needs to get his geography right’’, grumbled one officer who had to travel between Rajkot, Vijayawada and Ahmedabad in three days this season — spending 40 of those hours travelling.

There’s also the charge that the TRDW meets too infrequently. Vengsarkar asserts it meets every year but not this year — ‘‘the elections were held late’’ — but TRDOs whom this reporter spoke to said there’d been just one meeting, the initial briefing session three years ago. Some of the current lot of TRDOs have never met their counterparts from other zones.

‘‘Why do we need to meet?’’, asks Vengsarkar. ‘‘There is a TRDW website, accessible to all the TRDOs. We all interact through that. We know what X, Y, Z is doing.’’

Yet the job of the TRDOs is to discuss candidates, compare notes on X, Y and Z and evolve a consensus on the player as far as possible. The website, TRDOs point out, doesn’t have a chatroom where these discussions can take place.

The result: Follow-up action is negligible. Boys assessed as highly talented and subsequently trained at the NCA were dropped from their state teams within a couple of months; some of them weren’t even named in the squad of 15 for the first game after returning from the NCA.

Obviously, the TRDOs weren’t coordinating with the NCA coaches.

Surinder Khanna, who was North Zone’s chairman of TRDOs a couple of seasons ago, recalls one instance. ‘‘I had suggested the name of Aditya Jain (U-17) for selection in the North Zone team. I believed he had a good future but some of my colleagues in my zone ignored him. It was only after he scored 230 on a sticky wicket in Kanpur that they realised their mistake.’’

Admitting the problem, Vengsarkar says things are changing. ‘‘It (follow-up action) is in the pipeline. Right now only I work round the year, the others work only for five months during the season.’’

That brings up the issue of continuity. Says Surinder Khanna: ‘‘Longer terms will allow them to track the boys through the entire crucial learning stage. At present, TRDOs are picked on the whims of some state associations and most of these TRDOs don’t find time to go places to watch junior cricket.’’

Vengsarkar defends the short duration, by which officers are changed every season: ‘‘You have to understand that the system is only three years old and there’s a lot that can change. But by reviewing the performance of each we keep a check on them.’’

And if you thought professionalism — or at least being paid a hefty fee — ensured accountability, think again. There are many cases of officers who have not attended a single match all season and yet claimed their salaries.

One name that cropped up repeatedly in conversation is that of Gopal Sharma, a TRDO two seasons ago. When contacted, he said: ‘‘Is that so? I can’t remember whether I attended the matches or not. If you say so, it must be true….’’

Finally, one last question: What does Vengsarkar do with all the input given him by his officers? ‘‘I place it on the website’’, he says. ‘‘ The information is all there for the junior or senior selectors to check. Anyway, it’s the NCA’s responsibility to get it across to the selectors.’’

Being proactive — taking up specific cases with the selectors, pushing names through — has obviously not occurred to him.

But it’s not all downhill: Last year, India beat England in an Under-19 series that owed much to the efforts of the TRDOs.

And there are also officers like Ashok Mankad who watch each ball and write the report immediately after the match is over. They also brief players on where they went wrong.

TRDW FOR DUMMIES

What is the TRDW’s role?

To ensure that selection of junior talent to the next level was not merely score-sheet oriented. A boy is checked for talent rather than one or two innings.

How do they do that?

By intensive match-watching. The TRDOs cover almost 300 of the 325 junior cricket games played each year. This includes U-15, U-17, U-19 U-22.

How many of them are there?

Currently there are four Talent Resource Development Officers from each of the five zones (the number of officers has varied each year). One is the chief officer and the other three report to him. Former Indian skipper Dilip Vengsarkar heads the TRDW.

Are they paid?

Yes. Vengsarkar earns Rs 15 lakh each year, travels business class and stays in 5-star accommodation. Every zonal chief officer of the TRDW gets Rs 35,000 per month, officers Rs 25,000 p.m. (allowances excluded) and AC-II train fare

What do they do?

Each zonal officer assesses boys from other zones and after grading their stance, grip, forward defensive stroke, backward defensive stroke, pull shot, hook shot, line and length, run-up, turn and bounce, recommends top performers for a stint at the NCA.

How does this help?

Zonal bias is eliminated, the aspiring youngster is assessed by more than one TRDO through the season and is marked on ability and technique rather than just scores. The average of the reports from the TRDOs forms the basis for the youngster to graduate to the next level. So even if a youngster is going through a rough patch he is retained if the TRDO is convinced of his potential.

PART I

PART III