Ranji Trophy 2015: Das duo’s Midas touch for Assam
October 6, 2006. 9.30 pm: With his left arm heavily plastered and head bandaged to stop bleeding, 16-year-old Krishna Das lies on a hospital bed fuddled and exhausted.
It is late in the evening and the nondescript government hospital in Barpeta, Assam, is still abuzz with activity. Krishna, however, manages to doze off for a while, but cries of an infant in a nearby bed wake him up. Still groggy, Krishna manages to sit up with some difficulty, his gaze fixed intently at the infant. He is a bit irritated, but the sight of a middle-aged mustachioed man walking towards him perks him up instantly. The man in question is Sanath Kumar — Assam Ranji team’s coach. Sanath appears upset to see the pitiable state of his brightest ward. The heavy strappings and the countless stitches on his torso make him realise the seriousness of Krishna’s injuries. Just a few hours ago, the Maruti Zen in which he and his friends were travelling had collided with a truck.
The injuries threaten to nip a fledgling cricketing career in the bud and Sanath apprehends that Krishna will not make it back as a cricketer. Nine years have past since that accident, and this Ranji season, Krishna is not only leading the pace attack of Assam, but also contributing heavily in the impressive performance by his team. “When I saw him in the hospital bed nine years ago, I was certain this was the end of him. It was sad, because I knew he had the potential to make it big,” Sanath recalls.
That was nearly a decade ago. Today, he can afford a smile. Sanath’s instincts hadn’t let him down, after all. Krishna braved through that phase and, along with Arup Das, has gone on to become Assam’s mainstay and one of the forces behind the North Eastern side’s sudden rise this season.
Sanath first spotted Krishna nearly a decade ago, when he had just returned from Bengaluru, then Bangalore, following a stint with the NCA. Seeing his tall and wiry frame, Sanath asked him to bowl in the nets. He impressed his coach on the first day itself — disciplined, meticulous and blessed with tremendous fitness levels, Krishna would keep bowling at the nets all day long. He was rewarded for his efforts when Sanath decided to blood him into Ranji cricket. For Krishna, it was a big step forward as not many in Assam have made their first-class debut at 15. His transition was not smooth though.
A lot of members in the Association were of the opinion that blooding an inexperienced medium pacer was not the way forward. Sanath, however, stuck to his stand as he had faith in his ward’s abilities. “Many in the Association were not keen to have him (Krishna) in the team. They thought that he was too young, and consequently lacked the requisite skills to play first-class cricket. I managed to quell such talk and went ahead and fielded him,” Sanath adds.
Krishna did not disappoint his coach. On debut against Kerala in Dibrugarh, the medium pacer got four crucial wickets to script his success story. After an impressive debut season for Assam, expectations from Krishna were only bound to increase, but the horrific car crash at the beginning of his second season halted his progress.
His coach was concerned, however, Krishna knew this accident was only a minor blip, and with time he would make it back as an improved cricketer. “I was always confident of making a comeback… there were no doubts regarding this,” Krishna says. The immediate concern for Sanath was to help Krishna chalk out a rehab programme. Before this, he called up people in the Association and the BCCI to help him with funds for Krishna’s treatment. Once Krishna’s health insurance was settled with the Indian board, and after getting discharged from the government hospital in Barpeta, Sanath took him to Chennai, to help him regain full fitness.
By April 2007, Krishna was back to full fitness. The flipside, however, was that he had missed out on an entire Ranji season. Beginning of the 2007 Ranji season brought Krishna some much-needed luck. Assam, still under the tutelage of Sanath Kumar, was a team in transition. A host of experienced players had retired, and talented fast bowlers such as Abu Nachim, Sujoy Tarafdar and Pritam Das had migrated to the rebel ICL. This had left a void in Assam’s bowling. Krishna, 17 back then, was asked to lead the attack.
The lanky teen from Barpeta was still some distance from realising his true potential. That was because his mentor Sanath Kumar moved out of Assam after the 2007 season. With no backing from the top bosses in the Association, Krishna was dropped from the Ranji side, this after a productive season in 2007-08. Much like the freak car crash, this unceremonial exit from Assam’s Ranji squad too did not deter him. If anything, it helped him improve his game both mentally and physically. “Despite not being a regular in the Ranji squad for more than two years, I worked on my skills, fitness and improved my pace,” he says.
Big break
His big break came in 2009, when he was drafted into the India A squad for the ODIs against Australia at home. In between, he played a host of U-19 and U-23 games at the district level. However, his appearances for Assam were sparse. At the end of the 2013 season, Sanath Kumar is once again appointed Assam coach. It was no surprise that the first person he wanted in his team was Krishna Das. Krishna, who was predominantly an outswing bowler in his teens, had now developed a nippy inswinger and also added a few extra yards in pace.
“It was not surprising to see such an improved bowler two seasons back. He (Krishna) was much sharper and hit the 135kmph with ridiculous ease. With that pace if you can swing the ball both ways, you will be a handful in any conditions.” Sanath adds.
Krishna was impressive last season, picking up 26 wickets in 6 matches. A quarter-final exit to champions Karnataka proved to be their undoing. This season has been Krishna’s highlight in an otherwise short and intermittent career. Up against Rajasthan, on a slow wicket in Guwahati, Krishna picked up 10 wickets to give his team an outright win. In between his exploits, Krishna notched up a personal landmark in his last match against Delhi, when he went past a 100 wickets in first-class cricket. “Despite getting all those wickets against Rajasthan and Haryana, my 100th wicket gave me utmost satisfaction. That wicket (Gautam Gambhir) is the highlight of the season. We ended up defeating Delhi at home…that by itself is no mean feat,” he adds. He is currently third in the list of highest wicket-takers this Ranji season, snapping 35 in 6 matches.
Ravindra Jadeja with 38 wickets and Vidharba’s off break bowler Akshay Wakhare with 43 wickets are the only two bowlers ahead of him in the list. “Last year when I finished my season with 26 wickets, my coach said that I should at least try 40 wickets next season. I am happy that I am somewhere close to it now, “Krishna adds.
Hunting in pairs
Assam’s success story has been the highlight of this Ranji season. The primary reason for the team’s success is their two fast bowlers. Krishna Das’s steady rise in the domestic circuit has been well complemented by the rapid strides made by his childhood friend — another Das who also hails from Barpeta. Arup is two years younger than Krishna and the two have been childhood friends for more than 12 years now. Both were initiated into fast bowling by their first coach — former Assam fast bowler Javed Aktar Khan.
In terms of style and physicality, both Arup and Krishna are different. At 5’9”, Arup is more stockily built, and predominantly an inswing bowler. Like Krishna, he too bowls good lines and keeps testing the batsman. “I have known Krishna for more than 10 years now. We understand each other pretty well, and our bowling styles complement each other. He is an outswing bowler, while I prefer to bowl inswing. Both of us are aggressive and can bowl for long durations,” Arup says.
And like Krishna, Arup too is on the cusp of a very special personal landmark. At 97 wickets, he is just three wickets shy of a ton. 21 wickets from 6 matches this season to go with another 24 last season is testimony to his high consistency levels. A Praveen Kumar fan, Arup hopes his good show in Ranji will translate into calls from IPL franchises and the India A squad. “It’s something I always aspire for (IPL and India A)…if I get an opportunity in that regard it will give me more exposure as a player,” he says.
Arup, however, will have to wait for a while before he can notch up 100 first-class wickets. The reason: injury to his bowling finger, while batting in the last match against Delhi. The finger injury ruled him out for Assam’s upcoming Ranji Trophy duel against Maharshtra in Pune.
