A glimpse of a cricket coaching camp (Image: Madan Lal Cricket Academy)
As my Uber turned off Darga Road and onto the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass (I don’t know what they call it nowadays!), I got a glimpse of the imposing yellow building that was my school in Kolkata. That was where I played under-15 cricket and where my love affair with the game began. There was a time not very long ago – though T20 makes everything feel like ancient history – when cricket coaching began with a single sermon: “Head still. Play straight. Front-foot defence.”
If you grew up playing red-ball under-15 cricket, you’ll remember it vividly. The morning sun at Don Bosco School, Park Circus. The smell of wet grass. And Debu da bellowing from mid-off like an oracle of discipline: “Ki korchis re… Bat-pad together! No gap! Play in the V! And for heaven’s sake, don’t loft it!”
In those days, a lofted shot was not an attacking option. It was a moral failure. A character flaw. A sign that you lacked values, restraint, and possibly a future. If you dared attempt one, Debu da’s glare alone could send you back to the pavilion – no umpire required.
And now? Now, a 17-year-old walks into a T20 academy and the first thing the modern coach asks is: “Beta, what’s your range? Do you reverse-scoop? Can you ramp? When do you deploy the switch-hit?” Front-foot defence? That’s now an ancient ritual performed by Test specialists on heritage tours. Playing in the V? Only if the camera angle demands aesthetic symmetry. “Getting to the pitch of the ball”? Why bother, when you can invent a shot from off the pitch?
The coaching manual hasn’t just changed; it has been rewritten, re-illustrated, and moved to cloud storage. In the old-school red-ball coaching days, one would begin with a warm-up jog, stretching, and shadow batting. “Soft hands!” “Watch the seam!” was the mantra, and you would spend an hour on forward defence alone. Lofted shots meant instant exile, and any attempt at flair would be met with, “Ei, ki korchis?! This is not gully cricket!”
Modern T20 coaching begins with warm-ups that include resistance bands, GPS trackers, and a DJ playlist, followed not by shadow batting but – more likely – shadow scooping. “Can you clear mid-wicket from a length ball?” would be the question, and anything played along the ground would be politely discouraged. Coaches now review strike-rate charts like stockbrokers analysing mid-cap equities, and “Play in the V” has been replaced by “Access the stands.”
Imagine Debu da watching today’s cricketers: Suryakumar Yadav reverse-sweeping a fast bowler, Rishabh Pant hitting a six while falling over, Abhishek Sharma advancing down the pitch in the first over as if chasing a bus. He’d probably shake his head, mutter “Ei shob ki?”, and then secretly enjoy the audacity.
But here’s the fun twist: everything he taught still matters. The head still needs to stay still. Only now, it’s still while you scoop a 145 km/hr ball over fine leg. The bat-pad gap still matters because if it’s too wide, your switch-hit becomes an LBW highlight. Playing in the V is still beautiful; only now the V has expanded to include long-on roofs and mid-wicket canopies.
Cricket hasn’t changed as much as it appears. The basics survived; they’re just disguised under funky terminology and flamboyance. So the next time we watch a T20 star launch a length ball into orbit, let’s remember: behind that madness lies the ghost of Debu da whispering, “Head still… balance… commit to the shot.”
For more details follow the REVSPORTZ app
