Sanjay Manjrekar did not have a picture perfect debut. On a humid Delhi evening in '87, he was whisked past the hoard of eager family members and photographers who had gathered around in anticipation of a famous innings and into the ER after being snorted by Winston Benjamin. Son of the famous Vijay Manjrekar, that innings, left incomplete at 10 runs, launched Sanjay into a wave of critical acclaim and selectorial indifference. He mowed the West Indian quicks on the reciprocal tour (88-89), scoring a no-holds-barred hundred in the face of Bishop, Marshall and Ambrose. Then in Pakistan he whipped Wasim Akram and Imran Khan around for 218 (Lahore 89). "Best player of fast bowling," Imran Khan had said mopping a rare moist forehead. Sanjay Manjrekar of the split eye had become India's one man SWAT team. Soon, however, the exit of fellow Bombayites, friends and resident slow pokes, Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri, threw a cloak of insecurity over Manjrekar. The face saving hundreds were replaced by seemingly inconsequential thirties and forties raising doubts over his technique and his temperament. The little man with the dark intense eyes started falling off the selectors list for the one-dayers. Constant comparisons with the exciting Sachin Tendulkar and the frisky Mohammed Azharuddin hurt his confidence. The transformations in the team since he made his debut, particularly the curt unloading of the experienced Mumbai players, had influenced his game adversely. Manjrekar's unusual dependency on his seniors and good friends meant that he had fewer people to turn to in a crisis and when they dropped him after the '92-'93 South African tour first in favor of the short-lived Pravin Amre and then for Vinod Kambli, Manjrekar's career ran off a sordid curve. Since '93, Sanjay has attempted several comebacks without sticking it. He acknowledges he had the chances and freely blames himself for not taking full advantage of his many opportunities. In light of the punishingly inept displays of Vikram Rathour and Woorkeri Raman in South Africa, Manjrekar's recall for the West Indies was seen as nothing less than a formality. The long-awaited list of sixteen is out. Sanjay Manjrekar did not make the cut. He is, I learnt, as disappointed and stunned as his supporters. Q: | So another team leaves India without Sanjay Manjrekar. It must get frustrating. A: | It does. I am trying to not let it get to me. Q: | What's going through your mind right now? A: | I have had a few disappointments over a period of time so this is nothing new. Q: | You have the technique, the desire. And yet, you have not being selected for two important tours? What is going on? A: | A certain level of performance is expected from me which I believe I have not delivered for the last two or three seasons. Maybe that is the reason I haven't been picked now. But I was very optimistic this time because my performance was good, and a big hundred came up a day before the selection and I was hoping that I would be picked against the Windies because I have a very good record against them. Again, I probably would have been picked, it's just that the level of performace that they expect is not there. Q: | How was your domestic season? A: | Very good. Q: | Made a lot of runs? A: | Made two hundreds and I've lost track of the number of 50's. I've had 93 *, 78*--they could easily have been hundreds. So the domestic season has been good--no complaints there. But the reason could be something else. It could not be domestic performance. Q: | What do you think that reason could be? A: | I don't know. Q: | I want you to know you could be as candid as you wish to be. A: | I know. I am being frank. I know there are certain restrictions in giving interviews when you are an active cricketer but I am more honest than most. Q: | Well, I want you to know, people here in America who follow the fortunes, for lack of a better word, of our cricket team are very eager to know more about what goes on behind the doors in Calcutta. If a deserving player is not selected people want to know why. So I would like you to share your true emotions with us. If you have any opinions.... A: | Like I said, I was very optimistic this time for two reasons. First, my individual performance. I have batted as well as at any point in my career. Second, my captaincy. I led the Mumbai team in seven four-day games out of which we won five out right within four days and won the other two with something to spare. It's been an incredible performance by all Mumbai players. And yet, there are only two people representing Mumbai in the West Indies; one is Sachin--who hasn't played a single game for Mumbai this season--and the other is Abhey Kuruvilla. Only one player out of eleven players who worked hard this season! Q: | Mumbai used to have such a huge representation: Kambli, Sachin, yourself, Ankola. Do you see any specific reasons for the trend moving to Karnataka? A: | There are many Karnataka players in the present team and they all deserve to be in the side. The are good, intelligent cricketers--some of the best in the country. I think the selectors should give the same consideration to Mumbai and judge each person's individual performance. I can't believe that a team with such incredible results does not have more than one player in right now. I think a subconscious effort was made to judge Mumbai players by a tighter guideline. Q: | Vinod Kambli, another top flight player, has been put on hold. A: | It was expected. He missed one game on disciplinary grounds. It's not hard to imagine why he wasn't selected although he got a brilliant hundred recently. If he keeps his performance up he will be back. Q: | What about you? Do you see this as the end or another new beginning? A: | Like I said, I have had so many disappointments...I am not demoralized. Fortunately, my enthusiasm for the game has not decreased. I get up every morning and find that I am still as excited about nets as I was ten years ago. I never miss a session. The fire to prove myself is burning. If I can't make it into the team, I'll try harder. I have the confidence. Q: | In your debut Test against the West Indies in New Delhi, Winston Benjamin smashed your face. Did that change you as a player? A: | Normally an injury like that, especially in one's first big game can be very demoralizing. I am glad I recovered quickly enough to come back and play against the very same bowler in the one-dayers. It meant a lot to me that the selectors allowed me to regain my courage. Q: | Recently, one selector expressed some doubts about your ability against fast bowling using that incident as a reference. A: | I think my record in the West Indies speaks for itself. Q: | You have only four 100s from 60+ outings. But they have been brilliant hundreds, particularly the 108 against the Windies (Bridgetown 88-89) and the 218 against Pakistan (Lahore 89). Your last hundred, another face saving effort, was against Zimbabwe five years ago. Why haven't you been able to play more of these knocks? A: | After Harare I had opportunities to make more hundreds. I have only myself to blame for not doing so. I had scores of 61, 50, 70--they could have easily been converted to hundreds. Q: | How gravely has your inability to convert forties and fifties into hundreds effected you? A: | Hundreds are more memorable. Everyone remembers a quick-fire hundred on a belter but few recollect a thirty made on a wicked track. The selectors expect more. Azharuddin has made 17 hundreds which is a good conversion rate. But I am glad you mentioned the quality of my hundreds. I have played 80% of my Tests outside India where the conditions were almost always against the team. They were not easy hundreds. Q: | You were given an unfair shake. You made 36 typically gritty runs on a difficult Ahmedabad (1st Test vs. South Africa Nov. 96) track and I thought that afternoon would go down as the one where Sanjay Manjrekar had come back. You weren't fluent or convincing but I felt if they gave you enough support in your new role as an opener, you should serve the team for at least a couple of years. You didn't do much in the second innings, and although India won that Test you were benched for the next game. A: | I have no explanation for that. I tried so hard to establish myself. But even before that, if you remember, I played well in the one-dayers against Holland and they turned around and dropped me from the Singer Cup in Sri Lanka. In Ahmedabad, I was playing for the first time as an opener and played until lunch for 34, which out of a score of 223 wasn't too bad for a guy trying to make a career as an opener. Yes, I was definitely hard done after Ahmedabad--dropped for the second Test and then dropped from the fourteen for the third. I just wish I got half the chances that Vikram Rathour did! Q: | Who dropped you? Sachin or was that a 'management decision'? A: | Honestly, I have no clue. Why was I dropped after getting a fifty in Holland? Why was I dropped after Ahmedabad? If I was given a reason I would have worked on that area. Q: | Don't they talk to you and tell you the reasons for being dropped. Do they say, "Sanjay, this is your weakness, work on it"? A: | It doesn't happen in Indian cricket. Q: | So how do you know what you have to work on? How do you determine where you stand with the team? A: | You can't. That's what makes it so difficult. One day you are playing for them, the next day you are not. That's why a lot of young good cricketers hesitate to pursue this profession. There are so many uncertainties. Q: | Do you get a chance to address your concerns before you get dropped? A: | Sometimes. But mostly, someone from the management comes over to your room and tells you they have picked somebody else. That basically rules out convincing them to give you another chance. Once they have made up their minds, it stands. Then you have to start all over. Q: | Over the last four seasons Pravin Amre, Vinod Kambli have squeezed themselves in what was originally your batting number. A: | There have been many more. Look at how many chances Vikram got. Even Sujit played more games in the Titan Cup than I did. I am not saying they didn't deserve the chance to play. All I am suggesting is that the selectors should use the same guidelines for everybody. I have a decent international record. I have backed that with a strong domestic season. So what is the problem? Q: | Do you regret warning the selectors to not pick you unless they could play you as an opener? A: | This opener business is all a big misunderstanding. I never formally wrote to the selectors asking them to play me as an opener only. That's something a few newspapers here cooked up. Basically Sachin had advised me to start opening in a few first-class games before the Ahmedabad Test because he needed an opener in the team. He selected me for Ahmedabad based on my performances as an opener in those games. It had nothing to do with my issuing ultimatums or warning the selectors. Q: | With a Mumbaikar at the helm it should be so easy for you to get selected. A: | Sachin knows my cricket inside out. He knows my strengths and weaknesses and that makes it difficult. Sometimes being so close to the Captain is not the best place to be! Q: | Difference between Azhar and Sachin? A: | I think Sachin tries hard to win matches. You could see it in his face. It is obvious. Azhar was relaxed. He would do his job and let the match take its own course. Surprisingly, more often than not things would happen in our favor. He was very cool--even in tense moments like in the World Cup Semi-Final. Q: | Why aren't we winning like we used to two years ago? A: | Well, when you think about it, Indian cricket's success is dictated by the timetable. Two years ago we were playing most of our matches in India. Any captain or manager leading at home is instantly and automatically successful. But it is a different story the moment we go outside. Q: | So are the wickets and the conditions to blame. Or is it the standard of India's domestic cricketers. You have played against foreign domestic sides-the English counties most recently. Any great difference in the conditions or in the players? A: | The conditions are obviously different. But as a batsman you must adapt yourself to different conditions and must do so quickly. Our biggest handicap has been our inability to adapt to the higher bounce of Australia, the pace of the Caribbean and the swing and the movement of the English wickets. Other teams, such as Australia, South Africa and Pakistan adapt better for whatever reason. The approach of the Australian and South African teams is very professional. By their very approach and their exhaustive preparations and the practice regimes they become difficult sides to beat. But skill and talentwise I feel Indian players, particularly our batsmen are much superior. Q: | Where are the spinners? Millions of spinning wickets and yet no one world class. A: | We have Kumble but then he is in a class by himself and sadly, we have nobody else like him. I blame our wickets for that. Indian pitches are so geared towards spin that our spinners do not have to work at their art at all. They simply loop the ball and land it in one spot and the wicket does the rest, making an average spinner look great. These wickets are blunting their skills and giving them a false sense of confidence whereas spinners in Australia and Pakistan have to work much harder to extract the turn and more importantly the zip. Q: | So why are our spinners ineffective on good spinning wickets abroad? A: | Same reason. They are so used to having support from the wickets at home that once they come across a challenging surface, they do not know what to do. Q: | Any good spinners unearthed this season? A: | None. I have played against at least a dozen, but no one I would call world class. Again, out of ten wickets this season I have come across only one that was not on a spinning wicket. Some very ordinary spinners made life miserable for batsmen these last few weeks. Q: | Coaches in South Africa and Australia are so much more involved with the players, even at the school and Under 19 level. They take time out to address the needs and concerns of young players, especially the fast bowlers who require careful management. Indian coaches don't appear quite so intense. A: | You are right; they are not. There is a reason for that. Until recently, coaching was not as lucrative a profession as it has become in the last year or so. Retired professional cricketers generally make the best coaches because they have the experience and the skills, but such players would rather spend the retirement years behind the mike because a career in coaching was not thought to be prestigious. As a result lesser players--people who have merely passed a coaching course--would often coach. But that is slowly changing. We have more and more reputed first-class players stepping up to coach because it has become more luctrative. The coaching set up is not comparable to the systems in South Africa and in Australia, but it is a step in the right direction. Q: | I know you have had a good coach. Vijay Manjrekar was very inspirational during your formative years. Many youngsters are not so fortunate... A: | I am now a firm believer that how you play ten years down the road is reflective of the quality of coaching you received very early in your life--perhaps at the junior high level. So it is all the more important to instill good cricketing habits as early as possible. Recently I have been promoting the idea that the India U-15 and U-19 teams should be coached by players who have had international experience. Only the most qualified professional can spot the most subtle traces of talent. Just think of the wonders an interaction between the coaches of the U-15 and U-19 camps can produce. Communication is important. Coaches in India do not talk much to or about their players or share ideas with other coaches. It's sad. Q: | This could be it for Madan Lal if the slump continues. Who would you pick? A: | It's a bit premature. I am not sure. There are tons of qualified people. How they perform once in charge is most crucial. The best players often do not make the best coaches. Similarly, the best domestic coach may not do so well at the international level. Q: | Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev have been identified as people most likely to succeed in halting India's reverses. Are they as good as their reputation? A: | Without a question. They are extremely good at spotting talent. Both of them say they do not have the time to get into coaching full time, but they need not do everything. Someone like Gavaskar could just head a team of batting, bowling, and fielding coaches, and probably have a major say in the grooming of a specific player he has identified as having some potential. Q: | But the impression I got after speaking to a few players was that it would be better to have a foreign coach; someone who could detach himself from regionalism and simply pick and groom a player based on his skills and needs. There is a notion that Mumbai coaches tend to favor Mumbai players and that coaches from Karnataka will rather spend more time honing a Karnataka player. I feel we need somebody like Dav Whatmore, who was terrific at isolating himself from the internal politics and focusing instead on putting together a team of eleven quality players. We've all heard Sunil Gavaskar openly back Mumbai players over perhaps more deserving players from other states. And Kapil Dev has his little gang of favorites. How do you create a perfect system in a country so diverse? A: | I think it's difficult but not impossible. Everyone must be more responsible. After all, the purpose is to put together 11 people best equipped to represent the country. If you indulge in senseless regionalism you just defeat yourself. It is true Gavaskar backs Mumbai players but that is to be expected. Wouldn't you back a Hyderabadi or wouldn't you like to see a promising player from Hyderabad do well and become a national hero? Your point is valid. Coaches sometimes do not distribute their time efficiently. I know players have suffered because of such prejudices. Commonsense is needed. Q: | Who do you go to when you have problems with your game? A: | No one specific. Q: | Where do you see yourself a year from now? A: | I am not sure. Haven't thought about it. Six months ago, I looked at the schedule and realized the importance of the tours to South Africa and to the West Indies. South Africa came and went by and now the West Indies tour is here. In a sense the worst has come and gone; I can now concentrate on the most important task at hand: to play extremely well in the next few first-class games. Touch wood, I'll get a call to join them in the West Indies. Q: | Better keep an eye on the set. Never know when this team will go on red alert. A: | Oh, I never watch any matches on TV. Especially when I am not playing in the team. I would rather spend time in the nets. Anyway, I have not ruled out the possibility of a mid-tour recall. It's a long tour, I am fit and raring to go. Like I said, the fire is still burning. Copyright©1997, "On Drive", Mesmer Productions. All rights reserved.