Evening worth remembering for young stars
Hindustan Times felicitates Mumbai’s most promising school cricketers at a glittering ceremony
Rane from Shardashram Vidyamandir — for their splendid performances in the Mssa-organised competition.
Manjrekar, who remained closely associated with the entire process of selecting the cricketers, recalled MS Dhoni’s formula of ‘following the process’ as the ultimate.
“It’s hard to actually look at him from close quarters and read his emotions, because very often his team has won the game, but he looks disappointed. Why? Because you keep hearing the word ‘process’,” he said.
“Whenever he talks about his team’s performances, he talks about process. So if the process has not been good and not impressive for him, the result doesn’t matter to him that much. (It) may happen, (or it) may not happen, but if you focus on the process, I think you’ll have results like Dhoni eventually has,” Manjrekar shared.
CONTINUITY IS THE KEY
Contractor was lavish in his praise for the initiative as well as the cricketers, and he also laid emphasis on implementation and continuity of such a scheme.
“The continuousness of the scheme, the proper implementation will produce very, very good results,” he hoped.
“The purpose of the scheme is to produce end results, and the 15 and 16 is the age group where it should be implemented,” he said, adding that this batch must do well to inspire their juniors. Nadim Menon, the MSSA cricket secretary highlighted the importance of such an initiative. “I felt the Harris Shield and Giles Shield were not properly taken care of, so that’s why I said our boys should get best chances so they can perform. Then the media will always help us. We worked hard for two years and look what we got today,” he said.
Father Jude, the president of MSSA expressed delight in the overall set-up. “When I entered here itself, I felt a very homely atmosphere and cricketing flavour which was there. God bless all of you for taking this initiative. Congratulations to the Harris Shield boys, the Al-barkaat English School and the Giles Shield, the Rizvi School,” he said.
Amid many lessons and tips, what also stood out were two young captains (Sahil Jadhav and Harsh Mogaveera) giving interviews just like an international captain: one hand holding the mic, the other resting firmly on the waist. Standing erect, they spoke with fluency which only made the listeners proud.
A sign of good things to come.