Pravin Amre
For us, we were really fortunate to have a coach like Achrekar Sir (Ramakant Achrekar). He was a guru. The definition of guru is like he destroys the darkness. And I think that is what he did for all of us, his students.
We played for the country. People think about him as Sachin’s (Tendulkar) coach. He produced 10-11 Test cricketers – Chandrakant Pandit, Lalchand Rajput, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Sachin, Vinod Kambli, me… The list goes on. He also produced around 40 Ranji.
Trophy players. But the beauty of Achrekar Sir was that he was everyone’s coach. It was never like Sachin was there, other 10 Test cricketers were there – he used to treat everyone, even a club cricketer, the same way. There was no bias, never. And that was the biggest learning I had from him as a coach.
As far as cricket is concerned, about the technical knowledge of the game, when we were doing our Level 3 courses, I found those things were already taught to me by Sir. His technical knowledge was astounding. He was a modern coach. I personally feel like if I can get even 10 per cent of what Sir had, I can be a better coach who can make a player’s career.
It was at Shivaji Park where he took me under his wings. I was 10 years old. He was the one who took all my decisions. He changed my school and then my job at the Railways. I made my debut for Mumbai at the age of 18, but he said, “You have to play for Railways, and if you are good enough, you can play for India from there also”. That was exactly what happened. I had to take care of my family, and the job was important.
The Test against England in 1992 at Wankhede was special. Three of his pupils – Sachin, Vinod and me were playing for India and he paid a visit. Vinod scored a double-hundred, Sachin made 80 and I scored 55. We contributed to India’s victory and he was happy, as India won the series 3-0. He never said: “well played”. You had to make out from his eyes.
The greatest thing about him as a coach was that he never changed anyone’s natural game. He made us play as many games as possible to build that match temperament. Discipline was the key and the respect for the game. He is obviously one of the greatest coaches the country has produced and that’s why he is a Dronacharya.
(As told to Shamik Chakrabarty)
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