Badani - Making a mark for himself
Woorkheri Raman - 3 November 2001
Hemang Badani, the stylish left-hander from Tamil Nadu has come a long
way since he started off as a medium pacer in the under-12
competitions a decade ago. During his teens, one would have been hard
pressed to call him a batsman since he hardly contributed with the
bat. There was a stage at the junior level where he suffered from an
identity crisis in the sense that he belonged to no particular
category. It was not until he came into the under-19 level did he
discover his potential as a batsman. Incidentally Anil Kumble started
as a medium pacer and Dravid began as a keeper but later on in their
careers they have reached their pinnacle in different departments
altogether.
Badani made a scintillating hundred for Rest of India under-19 and
this earned him a slot in the India under-19 side. He scored two
centuries against the South African under-19 team which was
spearheaded by Hayward and Ntini. It was in this series that he
displayed the rare ability of playing the faster bowlers with a lot of
time to spare. Madan Lal the then junior coach was vociferous that
Badani should be picked in the senior team. But still Badani had to
prove himself at the senior level in order to convince the fraternity.
In my opinion the transformation from junior level to senior level is
the most important phase in a cricketer's career. Quite often
cricketers tend to lose their way and Badani also lost his way a bit.
In his first two seasons in the Ranji Trophy, he hardly did anything
of note and doubts started creeping into the minds of Badani and also
his mentors. It was during this phase of his career that he started
playing for the same club that I did and this gave me an opportunity
to help him with his game. One of the significant mistakes he was
committing then was that he did not watch the ball right from the time
the ball was released and until he made contact. He watched the ball
only either in flight or after it pitched. As a result, his judgement
of line and length was faulty and this resulted in poor shot
selection. His willingness to learn came to the fore and he rectified
this flaw in a jiffy.
The biggest turning point in his career came when he got a big hundred
against Mumbai in the semi-final in the 1999-2000 season. That knock
alone was responsible for bringing him into the Indian team. If I was
pleasantly surprised about one thing in the case of Badani, it was the
maturity that he showed when he played in the one-dayers. It was
really astonishing to see Badani change temperamentally for the better
in a short span of time. Today he has made a mark for himself but he
would do better if he stops walking into the line of the ball, which
makes him play across the line off fuller length deliveries. This
movement is more pronounced early on in his innings which makes him an
ideal candidate to be trapped in front of the wicket. It will be
relevant to mention here that his rightful place is in the middle
order and one hopes the team management will stop considering him for
the opener's job.
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