The queue gets longer for star coaches

A few days back when cricket coach Dinesh Lad saw an international number on his cellphone, he was puzzled.

A few days back when cricket coach Dinesh Lad saw an international number on his cellphone, he was puzzled. The only time he gets overseas calls is when star pupil Rohit Sharma is touring abroad. But with Team India at home, Lad couldn8217;t quite guess who the mysterious caller was.

As it turned out, the call was from Dubai 8212; a request from a father, about to migrate to Mumbai, to take his son under his wings. As Lad says, it was just the destination of the caller that surprised him, not the request. With the holiday season days away, starry-eyed parents of budding cricketers have intensified their hunt for summer camps, and that has meant Lad8217;s phone hasn8217;t stopped ringing.

8220;Everybody has the same thing to say. Sir, since you made Rohit an international star, we want our child also to be like him. Please draft him in your camp,8221; says Lad.

If Lad takes about 50 per calls per day, another coach much in demand is Naushad Khan 8212; the man who got a raw Iqbal Abdulla from Azamgadh to Mumbai to turn him into the U-19 World Cup winning star that he is today. 8220;Maybe 25 calls a day is my average,8221; says Naushad.

Lad, who confesses that there was a time when he had a tough time convincing parents to send their boys to his Borivali-based academy at Swami Vivekanand International, says life has changed. Despite the fact that Lad has failed to clear the Mumbai Cricket Association Level I coaching course twice, he has been given charge of the Western Railway team.

Being Rohit Sharma8217;s coach is a credential that quite easily overcomes the deficiency of a formal coaching degree. Naushad has a Level I certificate but the waiting list of his summer camp is more than the strength of students who train under more qualified coaches in the city.

8220;I have been receiving several calls from UP, besides requests from Mumbai. Parents want their sons to be the next Abdulla. But I make it clear to them that I am just a facilitator 8212; the boy has to be talented,8221; says Naushad. And just to prove his rise on the social ladder, he adds, 8220;Imagine the other day, I was the chief guest a function in Kurla.8221;

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Both coaches vouch for the fact that they are not opportunists who are selling hollow dreams. To emphasise his point, Lad talks about a father who came to his academy with his five-year-old son and made inquires about the procedure to enroll him. I said it8217;s too early. He was too small to hold a bat or ball,8221; says Lad.

Old-timers say this craze isn8217;t new to Mumbai. The late 80s saw a similar queue outside Ramakant Achrekar8217;s academy as every other parent saw a Tendulkar or a Kambli in their sons. Forget Tendulkar, even the next Kambli hasn8217;t emerged from Achrekar8217;s Shivaji Park gym yet.

Naushad is aware of this phenomenon and he gets philosophical as he explains: 8220;Iqbal is like a kite, and I am just the thread that helps it to fly. I can8217;t take any piece of paper and make it fly.8221;