General Discussion & Chat: My cricket coach..., 0 by Dinu

Dinu wrote:
His name is "Nana" Joshi. He had played for India [as wicket-keeper] and had toured England and the West Indies in the early 50s. His performance for India was below his potential and does not do justice either to his talent or his character. I had the good fortune to have known this great man. I had been selected for our organization cricket team in 1983. There was a coaching camp organized by the National Cricket Lab, Pune. Mr.Joshi lived in Pune. It was an enjoyable trip and camp. I learnt many things there in the mere ten days. Our team-mates from different parts of the country made a good gathering. We enjoyed the cricket camp as well as being together as a team. The city of Pune is 24 hours by train from here.

I had the good luck of being liked by Mr.Joshi among all the boys. It seems that he had said [behind my back] that my cricketing abilities are just perfect and that I deserved to play at least for the state, leave alone country. I have also heard others say this - but I was always keeping my head on my shoulders - as was a 'habit' of mine. Later, we had exchanged a couple of letters and in one of them, he had given me valuable tips and had wanted me to 'put behind the good performances behind and be ready to do better the next time'. It is such a wise suggestion that, being of the mold I told earlier, was never too difficult to follow! In fact, that letter only inspired me to carry along the same way. He is one person who I frequently remember and admire for his 'fatherly advices'.

He had taken me home to show the original pictures of him in action in Test Matches. It was such a thrill seeing his albums and the proud possessions of autographs of great cricketers, etc. I will never forget my visit there. My next visit to his house [with another teammate - we wanted to visit at any cost] after a decade was to convey our condolences to his family. He had passed away a few months prior to our another tour. He had died of liver cancer [he was a teetotaller!]. I miss him a lot as a person. He used to dive and show how to catch even at his age of 59 or so. Not so easy for a normal person!

In this picture he is in the Indian Blazer, center. Hope people can guess where I am!