Project Aaron next for Banerjee the coach

[rkt.india]

On January 2, 1992, at Sydney Cricket Ground, two cricketers made their Test debuts. One of them, Shane Warne, finished with 1001 international wickets. The other, Subroto Banerjee, is usually mentioned when Indian one-Test wonders are discussed; by December the same year, had played the last of his six One-Day Internationals. Time has blurred the fact that he accounted for Geoff Marsh, Mark Taylor and Mark Waugh in the only innings he bowled in during the Sydney Test. On the last day, India declared with a first-innings lead of 170 to pursue a win and reduced Australia to 173 for 8 before time ran out. Banerjee, however, didn’t get to bowl a single over in that innings. “It is still a mystery. Even today I don’t know why I was not given the ball,†said Banerjee, currently in his first season as coach for Jharkhand. Though Banerjee then spent more than three months in Zimbabwe and South Africa playing just a single ODI and five practice matches, it was the period after that, when India played four series in two seasons in the spin-friendly subcontinent pitches, which pushed him out of the reckoning. “Kapil paaji (Dev) and Manoj (Prabhakar) were there. We mostly went with two fast bowlers and three spinners. That period cost me and my career went back by couple of years,†noted Banerjee. After toiling in the domestic circuit till 1999, he slipped out of public consciousness. Marriage to an Australian opened up the opportunity to shift base, and by 2002 he had settled in the city of his only Test appearance. “After I realised that I cannot play for the country any more, I decided to get out of the bubble, stay away from getting frustrated and do something else, somewhere else,†he said. Banerjee, however, remained in touch with the game by playing grade cricket in Sydney for five years and became a Level II coach along the way as well. By 2008, he was in the staff of the Western Suburbs District Cricket Club and that led to his second innings taking off. “Having spent a lot of time assisting Dennis Lillee, I realised that I had the necessary knowledge to become a coach,†he said. “I decided to master my skills and teach youngsters. Mitchell Starc was under me for five-six months in Australia.†His heart remained in India though and during India’s 2007-08 tour of Australia, Sachin Tendulkar, a close friend, offered him a return route. Banerjee recalled, “Whenever I used to meet Sachin, I used to tell him how things could be done differently in the bowling department. Listening to my insights, he asked me to return to India as Mumbai Indians’ bowling coach. That opened the gateway for me.†Banerjee did not take much time to make his presence felt. During his time as Vidarbha’s bowling coach, he worked with Umesh Yadav, who has credited Banerjee for his rise. “When I came to Vidarbha Cricket Association, Umesh was just a raw fast bowler. From there to uniform him as a quality bowler, a lot of technical fine-tuning was done at the academy. Faster run up, improvisation of basic action, making sure that the hand positioning, foot landing, and follow through were correct,†said Banerjee of his ward. Prior to the ongoing domestic season, he moved to Jharkhand in a larger capacity and he felt that his technical knowhow and experience would enable the boys there to make a difference against some of the bigger teams in the circuit. And part of his task involved facilitating a comeback for Varun Aaron into competitive cricket. Aaron, back after a 16-month lay off due to a back injury that needed surgery, has played just one Test and picked up three wickets so far, like Banerjee. Whether the pupil can do more than the teacher remains to be seen, but Banerjee now has enough on his plate to stay put in India and contribute to Indian cricket – something he couldn’t do as a cricketer.

http://www.wisdenindia.com/cricket-article/project-aaron-banerjee-coach/85197

[CG]

good.

[Zanjeer]

Better than project Raina..that's for sure..:two_thumbs_up: