Out in the cold

The 2005 USA National Interstate Cricket Tournament has come and gone. However, there is a name that is now etched in stone into the scorebooks. Historians and statisticians will come back to this name again and again as time passes: Sushil Nadkarni. With scores of 171 vs. Washington, 214 vs. Florida, 30 vs. Virginia, and 42 vs. West Indies Players Association in a Twenty20 match Sushil is definitely one for the history books and obviously earned the MVP along with a berth on the National Squad. Vinod Shankar spoke to him

When did you start playing competitive cricket and what were the different goals you achieved that finally led to your selection in the Maharashtra Ranji team?
I started playing competitive cricket at the age of 15. My coach, Nicky Saldhana, saw something in my batting talent and took special interest in developing my technique. Within a span of four years, I played for the Maharashtra U-16, U-19, West Zone U-19, and Rest of India U-19 teams. I scored 138 against Saurashtra U-19 in my first U-19 game. In the 1994-95 season, I worked very hard in the nets focusing on making it to the Indian U-19 team, which was slated to tour Australia in 1995-96. The hard work paid off as I scored three hundreds and three fifties in eight innings and averaged 99.00 in the 1994-95 U-19 season. It was a proud moment for me when I got the news that I had been selected to play for the Indian U-19 team. I had been batting regularly in the State Ranji Trophy nets from a young age (as a probable) and was picked for the Ranji Trophy team following my tour to Australia in 1995-96.

You did pretty well on that tour of Australia against the likes of Brett Lee. How did that tour help in developing you as a cricketer?
A tour Down Under will make a man out of any cricketer. There was some very competitive and high standard of international cricket played. For me personally, I came back with the self confidence that my technique as an opening batsman was good enough to handle the likes of Brett (regarded as the fastest bowler in Australia at the time) and other Aussie quick's. Besides, the experience of having played on the fast tracks at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Western Australia Cricket Associations ground at Perth seemed to have increased the time I had to play my shots.

You played six Ranji Trophy matches for Maharashtra in 1996. you were still only 20 and were considered a bright prospect and probably had a future in the Indian cricket team. What made you quit and come to the USA instead of pursuing the cricketing dream?
Circumstances seem to be the reason. I did not find a spot in the Ranji Trophy squad for the play-off game against Delhi in the same season. Also, I did pretty well in my engineering exams and thus made a decision to pursue further studies in the US.

In the Ranji Trophy one-day match against rivals Bombay, you scored a scintillating half-century opening the batting against the likes of Abey Kuruvilla, Salil Ankola, Nilesh Kulkarni and Sairaj Bahutule. In the end it was Sachin Tendulkar who got your wicket. Was that your most memorable knock?
It was my debut knock in first-class one-day cricket. I was happy to have scored those runs but it is not my best knock. My belief has always been that everybody gets fifties but a hundred makes a batsman, and a big hundred, along with the ability to be undefeated at the end, makes a great batsman. A good example would be Brian Lara.

Over the last two years, the name Sushil Nadkarni comes up every time the word cricket is mentioned in Houston and I dare say Texas. You have been performing as the best allrounder in the region in practically every tournament you have played. Which among your several achievements in the US do you treasure the most?
Thank you for the vote of confidence. I have been able to come up with numerous match-winning performances in games played in the US. The achievement that I treasure the most is helping my club, Cavaliers Cricket Club, rise from a Division II team to current first position team in Divison I of the Houston Cricket League.

After performing consistently with both bat and ball in the Eastern and Western conference that was held in Dallas, you were still omitted from the 30-man probable list for the USA team to play the ICC Champions Trophy in England September, 2004. This must have come as a shock to you as it was for the rest of Texas. How did you feel?
It seems to be a shock more so for people who have seen me play and know about my cricket abilities. With some strong performances and a bit of luck I hope to play for the US team in the future.

If you don't have a league match in Houston, you drive or fly to other parts of the country to play? Yet every weekend you seem to be either scoring plenty of runs or taking a bagful of wickets. Don't you get tired of having no weekends away from cricket? How do you keep the same intensity week in and week out playing the amount of cricket you do?
With all the cricket I have played, I know that the sport is a big leveler, the reason being that it will show you the highs as well as the lows. At the moment I am trying to make hay while the sun shines. My form with the bat and ball is pretty good, which is helping me come up with some outstanding performances. Yes, there are times when I realize that there is too much of cricket going on and it is best for me to take some time off.

How many hours do you practise a week? What kind of drills do you go through?
I practise about six hours a week on the field and a couple of hours at the gym. My practice generally comprises of plenty of jogging and sprinting, catching and throwing before net practice. While bowling in the nets, I try to experiment as much as possible and work on getting a good rhythm going. For me, the most important part of the practice is batting, wherein I plan on an area of my game that I want to work on. For example, on a particular day, I try to play with a straight bat in front of the wicket while another day I practise the big shots. I try to work on being able to adapt to different situations. There have been certain innings where I have hit over 10 sixes to get a hundred while others where I have run all ones and twos to get a hundred.

Do you practise with bowling machines? What has your experience been with them?
I practised with a bowling machine in MCC's nets while the Houston team was preparing for the Texas cup. I found it to be very useful. I feel it can add a lot of value to a batsman's practice session as he can get the ball to be consistently pitched in an area of weakness and work on his game.

What realistic steps do you think can be taken within the US to popularize cricket?
I feel we need to get the American folks involved at the audience level first and then at the playing level. Cricket is already popular with the folks from countries where the game is played but for it to sink into the American culture we need to find a way to get the Americans to understand the game and come out to the fields to watch the games.

How do we improve the standard of youth cricket?
The right kind of coaching at a young age will go a long way in developing a budding cricketer. Thus, I feel if USACA can contract international cricket coaches to work with the youngsters on a long term basis, it would help improve the standard of youth cricket immensely.

Finally, what are the future goals for Sushil Nadkarni?
My future goals are to keep working on my fitness, perform consistently with the ball and bat and help my team make it a habit of winning games.