Youngsters need mentors in the team
Suresh Menon writes in dreamcricket.com that the fame, pressures and expectations of playing at the highest level take some getting used to, and it is up to senior players to mentor youngsters as they find their feet in the game.
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
Suresh Menon writes in dreamcricket.com that the fame, pressures and expectations of playing at the highest level take some getting used to, and it is up to senior players to mentor youngsters as they find their feet in the game.
Traditionally in cricket, the senior players in a team act as mentors for the newcomers. When a 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar made his debut in Pakistan two decades ago, Sanjay Manjrekar, older by seven years, and seen those days as a potential India captain, mentored his Mumbai colleague. In his autobiography M.C.C., Colin Cowdrey has written about how on his first tour, the England skipper Len Hutton sought out Cowdrey Sr. and assured him, “I’ll look after him.”
When Mohammad Azharuddin made his debut, Sunil Gavaskar quickly realizing the pressure the youngster might be under after making three centuries in a row, advised him on matters ranging from carriage to finance.
Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo