Ode to a cricketing guru Ramakant Achrekar

"The best teacher is not the one who knows most but the one who is most capable of reducing knowledge to that simple compound of the obvious and wonderful," journalist and satirist Henry Louis Mencken had said in the early 1940s. More than two decades after he passed away in Baltimore in 1956, his words came to be recalled in far away Mumbai with the emergence of a cricketer called Sachin Tendulkar and the coach who made his phenomenal success possible.

Yet, recognition and fame took its time finding Ramakant Achrekar. He was the cricketing coach who took the young Tendulkar from venue to venue, match to match, on his Lambretta scooter through the 1980s, training him to become a cricketing sensation. The government woke up to confer a Padma Shri on Achrekar only when he was 78, in 2010.

"It was like getting a graduation degree after one's post-graduation," says an embittered Vishaka Dalvi, Achrekar's daughter. Her father raises his hand in protest. "I only did my duty as a coach."

Now, Achrekar's contribution to the world of cricket has been recorded by journalist Kunal Purandare in his book, Ramakant Achrekar: Master Blaster's Master. Both Dalvi and her father are happy. "I'm glad Kunal Purandare took the effort to highlight my father's contribution. I hope the authorities recognise the mentors and teachers who nurture talent," says Dalvi.

Author speak

The author brushes aside the praise modestly. "This is their large heartedness. I am very happy that Achrekar Sir gave me so much time despite his ill health. I can't thank his family, Sachin Tendulkar's brother Ajit and all the other cricketers and experts enough for their guidance," says Purandare.

It, of course, helped that his elder brother and author Vaibhav Purandare (who has written Sachin Tendulkar: A Definitive Biography, one of the most authoritative of the dozen-odd books on the cricketing legend) has also been coach Achrekar's disciple.

After his first book, Vinod Kambli: The Lost Hero, five years ago, Purandare was thinking about which other subject to write on. "Sachin Tendulkar had played a crucial role in India's World Cup victory then. It struck me at that time that very little known is known or written about this legendary coach, Ramakant Achrekar despite his monumental contribution to the game of cricket. It was an untapped subject about a person who dedicated his life to training champion players at a time when there was very little money in the game."

Thus began Purandare's journey of writing the book. "Little did I know about what a Herculean task I'd taken on. With hardly any substantial material about the man, who stayed away from the limelight, at my disposal, I had to rely extensively on interviews to understand his work ethic and to know what made him a great coach in the cricketing world."

Kunal Purandare

Achrekar's students who've played for the Ranji Trophy as well as for the national team, his contemporaries, assistant coaches, friends and family all came forward to offer rare insights about the man and his rigorous training sessions.

The former dna journalist laboured for two years on the research and writing when off duty. "Achrekar is an important chapter in Indian and world cricket, having produced some of the best players to have played the game. As a lover and ardent follower of cricket, it was a fulfilling journey for me to write about the inspirational man. I am glad that I could document his immense contribution to the game and hope that it benefits cricket lovers, especially aspiring cricketers and coaches," says Purandare.

Tendulkar has often spoken of the defining moment of his cricketing career: when Achrekar slapped him for skipping practice at Shivaji Park to go cheer his school mates at Wankhede Stadium for a final. "If you concentrate on your own game, one day people will come and clap for you," Tendulkar was told. And he did.