Finally, it was left to the work ethics of former Railways cricketer Abhijit Chatterjee to end the long title drought for Hyderabad when it won the All India Buchi Babu cricket tournament in Chennai.
Work in progress and following the process are some of the mantras the victorious Hyderabad team followed under Abhijit’s tutelage.
“Honestly, it has been a complete team effort. Every player chipped in with ideas, planning and more importantly, they executed and lived up to the expectations,” said the 57-year-old Abhijit.
“We kept it very simple. Whatever the players said about their roles and responsibilities, they had to perform them,” the delighted coach said in a chat with Sportstar.
“We wanted all the players- from No. 1 to No.11 to contribute when the team badly needed them to respond in any given situation,” Abhijit said. Crediting the whole team for playing as a unit, Abhijit said that all-rounders C.V. Milind, Rohit Rayudu, Abhirath Reddy, along with spinners Tanay Thyagarajan (33 wickets in Buchi Babu) and Aniketh were the major contributors behind the title-winning campaign.
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“I believe the strength of this wonderful unit is togetherness, readiness to face any challenges, and taking head on any opposition,” Abhijit added.
Abhijit, the former Ranji cricketer who achieved what some of the bigger names failed with the Hyderabad team, said the process to win a major championship began at the HCA Academy at Gymkhana in April this year itself.
“The entire support staff has been working on different parameters of all the probable State players to ensure that at the start of the season, they are ready for the demanding schedule,” the former Railways cricketer said.
The victorious coach said that having known most of the cricketers since their age groups (as he had been working with them over the years) helped his cause.
“I am grateful to HCA for giving me this opportunity to realise my dream of seeing the team win a major tournament, and that too in my first assignment with seniors.
“Frankly, the players were always in the mood to end the title drought. The thought of winning a major championship was clearly playing at the back of their mind. That was also one of the reasons for four outright wins in Buchi Babu.
“The area of focus as we look ahead is to see the fast bowlers get those early breakthroughs. We are also working on a couple of young pacers, [and I] hope they will raise the bar,” Abhijit said.
