The city of Mumbai is known to have changed lives of many Indians and still continues to do so. But two cricketers - father Yograj Singh and son Yuvraj Singh - will not forget the direction cricketing ethos of this great city gave to their careers
The city of Mumbai is known to have changed lives of many Indians and still continues to do so. But two cricketers - father Yograj Singh and son Yuvraj Singh - will not forget the direction cricketing ethos of this great city gave to their careers.
In 1980, it was Yog (Yograj's nickname), contemporary of Kapil Dev, who was resurrected and brought to Mumbai to join the Mafatlal cricket team which had domestic stalwarts like Ashok Mankad as captain, Eknath Solkar, Brijesh Patel and Parthasarthy Sharma.
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Yog would be the first to admit that he didn't fully do justice to his talent. In the three years that he stayed with me, he worked very hard at his game. Mumbai's cricketing fraternity on the maidans and gymkhanas felt he deserved a second chance with the Indian team.
When his 20-year-old petite, charming wife Shabnam gave birth to a 3.8 kg plumpish kid on December 12, 1981 at 12 noon in Room No 12 on the 12th floor of PGI Hospital which is in Sector 12 of Chandigarh, Yograj's first reaction was, 'I will make him achiever what I couldn't'.
When Yuvi started growing up, he took a liking to skating. He even won a sub-junior championship but his joy was short lived. Yog threw away the skates and warned him never to skate again competitively. From then on, it was only cricket.
On the first floor of his Sector 11 B house, Yog built a gymnasium and bought a dozen bats, cricket and tennis balls. Shabnam had lovely flowers blooming in the garden with Shivalik hills in the background but Yog turned it upside down. He prepared a small pitch and the father-son duo began practicing from morning till night.
Academics became secondary.
I was at their Chandigarh dwelling when, around 10 pm, I heard Yuvi's painful voice. When I rushed out, I saw him rubbing his chest which was hit by a wet tennis ball. The pinkish 12-year-old boy's chest had become black and blue. He had no choice but to face wet tennis balls from 17 yards! I tried to convince Yog that 12 hours of practice would kill Yuvi's enjoyment but he was hell bent on his son learning the game the hard way.
Later in 1997, Yog sent Yuvi to stay with me and practice at the Dilip Vengsarkar's academy at Churchgate.
For a boy who was raised in the quiet surroundings of Chandigarh, the fast Mumbai life was a bit too tough.
Getting into the crowded train at Andheri with a kit bag and reaching Churchgate at 8 am was an ordeal for him in the month of April and he would practice the whole day.
By the time he would get into train at Churchgate at 6 pm, he had no energy left in him. When he resented the hectic travel, I said, 'Yuvi, all those boys who practice with you also travel long distances. In fact, many of them travel from Vasai, Virar, Thane and Kalyan." After a month, he accompanied the academy team to Satara.
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The ground condition was awful with stones covering majority of the ground, but there he was diving full length at his customary backward point position in the hot weather.
Yuvi acknowledges Mumbai's role in his development. It is only fitting that he has decided to make this city his home.
Apart from being a cricket writer, Makarand Waingankar is involved in cricket development. He was chief coordinator of the Bombay Cricket Association-Mafatlal Bowling Scheme spearheaded by Frank Tyson in the early 1990s.
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