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Follow UsWhat do you see in this image?
Screenshot Courtesy: JioCinema
Compassion, empathy and, perhaps, compound happiness?
All of it is true, but what the image really stands for is almost seven years of toil, a profound friendship and the success story of Abhishek Nayar’s mentorship.
Rinku Singh might have been an overnight sensation to the rest of the world, but for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Nayar, it was a project that bode time. It required Nayar to take Rinku in the wings and transform him both physically and mentally to become the cricketer he is.
You might be wondering why this is relevant now?
What are the qualities that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) require in a backroom staff to oversee a transition? Know-how, of course. But apart from that, compassion and understanding where the player is coming from.
That’s exactly where Nayar has spent a large portion of his after-cricket career, understanding the pulse of the up-and-coming talents. You could search through the depths of this nation and still struggle to find someone more equipped than Nayar.
Go back to the image and imagine the same thing happening to all the young cricketers out in Indian cricket. Nayar could well and truly transform the future of Indian cricket.
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“That is what I tell these youngsters: never take this team and what is done in the past for granted,” Nayar wrote on ESPNCricinfo for the younger generation of Mumbai cricketers.
But when you look at it in the context of Indian cricket, it couldn’t have been phrased better. The upcoming generation can’t afford to take what the previous generation has achieved for granted.
"All I can think of right now is the person who's built this Indian core. Obviously the international players have been doing very well always, but the main guy behind this is Mr Abhishek Nayar,” Varun Chakravarthy said in the aftermath of KKR’s IPL 2024 win.
Over the last six years, that’s exactly what Nayar has done with KKR. He’s transformed the way Indian cricketers have entered the system, allowing them to bloom and making them the all-star cricketers that they are today.
In some cases, he’s almost even ‘adopted’ those cricketers, giving them shelter in his home in Mumbai and developing them more than what is required for the 22 yards.
Be it Rinku, who spent a large portion of his injured days wheeling away and understanding the intricacies of the game, or Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who moved to Mumbai at a very young age to learn the sport, Nayar has always been there.
But in the case of Venkatesh Iyer, Nayar’s impact has been quite profound, given that the Madhya Pradesh all-rounder was retained ahead of Shubman Gill at KKR. While Iyer terribly failed in the first two seasons post-retention, his third season (IPL 2024) proved to be the game-changer.
“I [Venkatesh Iyer] did a lot of what Abhishek Nayar told me to do and that worked for me. Even if it didn't, I was really happy with that because he was able to justify why I need to do and that gave me a lot of clarity to go out there and make decisions. It was very challenging but good fun,” Iyer told ESPNCricinfo in praise of Nayar.
“Abhishek Nayar played a very important role at that time to bring us together. Not just cricket, but his life traits are also sharp. Just the way he looked at life in general was something amazing for me. He has an answer for almost everything. I used to have deep conversations with him at the time in his room because we couldn't leave the hotel,” Iyer added.
While he has not only transformed KKR into a championship side, his scouting system has ensured that KKR can continue the same work for a long time.
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But handling senior cricketers is a task much more complicated. Can Nayar hold his own in that position?
“In 2018, Abhishek [Nayar] said we can do something really special if you bat in the middle. It is the toughest spot to play and you'll get much lesser balls but you can create a much better impact. In time, people will start understanding it is specialist position, let's be ahead of the curve and let's start practicing with winning games in mind,” Karthik revealed in an interview with Cricbuzz.
“That's when our chance will come. And we have to be able to transfer that when we go for Team India as well. He said in Team India there are a lot of top-order batters so there's always going to be a fight, so you much rather at this stage take up a position which is a lot more challenging,” he said of becoming a finisher.
Just pause and look at that sentence.
Nayar’s nuanced understanding of the sport was such that it gave Dinesh Karthik a second chance in his cricketing career. Realising what the Indian team lacked, Nayar not only made Karthik transform into a finisher but also ensured that none of Karthik’s ‘originality’ was compromised.
It even included detailed practice sessions in Chennai and Mumbai, among other places, where Karthik was targeting a specific number of runs within a certain number of deliveries. It wasn’t just that; practising at different venues and on different soils allowed Karthik to understand his game much better.
A few years before he took Karthik under his wings, he was also behind Rohit Sharma’s transformation after the Mumbaikar narrowly missed out on featuring in India’s 2011 ODI World Cup squad.
"When Rohit was not picked for the 2011 World Cup, I always told him 'let's work hard'. Because he had gained a bit of weight at that time. A visual [an ad] was aired, which showed Rohit and Yuvraj [Singh] standing, and there was a circle marked around Rohit's tummy with an arrow pointing towards it. I will never forget it. We were at home, watching TV. And looking at that visual, Rohit said I have to change this (perception)," Nayar said on The Ranveer Show.
The rest is history, with Rohit going on to become a stalwart of Indian cricket.
Need someone who can handle the seniors?
Need someone to scout the young talents in the country?
Need someone to take care of the young cricketers as they wade through the international pressure?
Need someone to nurture the Indian cricketing talents?
Need someone to also take some of the pressure away from the cricketers while being one of them?
It is the perfect concoction that one could have asked for at the best possible time for Indian cricket. Abhishek Nayar’s appointment could be in the right direction for Indian cricket as they usher into yet another golden era.
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