da marjack bet： Hemang Badani, the stylish left-hander from Tamil Nadu has come a longway since he started off as a medium pacer in the under-12competitions a decade ago
Woorkheri Raman22-Jun-2001Hemang Badani, the stylish left-hander from Tamil Nadu has come a longway since he started off as a medium pacer in the under-12competitions a decade ago. During his teens, one would have been hardpressed to call him a batsman since he hardly contributed with thebat. There was a stage at the junior level where he suffered from anidentity crisis in the sense that he belonged to no particularcategory. It was not until he came into the under-19 level did hediscover his potential as a batsman. Incidentally Anil Kumble startedas a medium pacer and Dravid began as a keeper but later on in theircareers they have reached their pinnacle in different departmentsaltogether.Badani made a scintillating hundred for Rest of India under-19 andthis earned him a slot in the India under-19 side. He scored twocenturies against the South African under-19 team which wasspearheaded by Hayward and Ntini. It was in this series that hedisplayed the rare ability of playing the faster bowlers with a lot oftime to spare. Madan Lal the then junior coach was vociferous thatBadani should be picked in the senior team. But still Badani had toprove himself at the senior level in order to convince the fraternity.In my opinion the transformation from junior level to senior level isthe most important phase in a cricketer’s career. Quite oftencricketers 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 anythingof note and doubts started creeping into the minds of Badani and alsohis mentors. It was during this phase of his career that he startedplaying for the same club that I did and this gave me an opportunityto help him with his game. One of the significant mistakes he wascommitting then was that he did not watch the ball right from the timethe ball was released and until he made contact. He watched the ballonly either in flight or after it pitched. As a result, his judgementof line and length was faulty and this resulted in poor shotselection. His willingness to learn came to the fore and he rectifiedthis flaw in a jiffy.The biggest turning point in his career came when he got a big hundredagainst Mumbai in the semi-final in the 1999-2000 season. That knockalone was responsible for bringing him into the Indian team. If I waspleasantly surprised about one thing in the case of Badani, it was thematurity that he showed when he played in the one-dayers. It wasreally astonishing to see Badani change temperamentally for the betterin a short span of time. Today he has made a mark for himself but hewould do better if he stops walking into the line of the ball, whichmakes him play across the line off fuller length deliveries. Thismovement is more pronounced early on in his innings which makes him anideal candidate to be trapped in front of the wicket. It will berelevant to mention here that his rightful place is in the middleorder and one hopes the team management will stop considering him forthe opener’s job.