Pravin Amre: Nine interesting facts about the man who nurtured many Indian talents

1.  Coincidental cricketer and trained under Ramakant Achrekar

It may come as a surprise to many but Amre as a young boy, just randomly went to the iconic Shivaji Park in Mumbai and just spared his time fielding out there. But his fortunes changed once someone presented him to the famous coach Ramakant Achrekar, who nurtured Amre under his watchful eyes.

2.  Fantsatsic knock which chiselled his path for India U-19

After some terrific performances, Amre was roped in by Railways. In his first game for Railways, in the 1987-88 seasons, his tenacious knock of 186 not out sculpted his path into the India U-19 side for the tour of New Zealand.

3.  A century on Test debut

Amre announced himself to the world with a magnificent century on his Test debut against a formidable South African bowling attack at Durban in 1992. With this feat, he became the ninth Indian to slam a century on Test debut.

4.  Tenacious knock on his ODI debut

Amre had an uncanny knack of making it big on a debut. A year before his Test debut, Amre played his first One-Day International (ODI) against Clive Rice’s touring South Africans. His knock of 246 paved for Rest of India in the Irani Trophy paved his path to the ODI side and immediately he made an impression when he bailed India out with a knock of 55, while chasing a target of 178.

5.  Axed from the Test side

Amre had a good run in at home but a poor outing in the 1993 Test series in Sri Lanka, which saw him losing his spot from the Test side. In the entire series, he only managed to get 57 runs with the bat.

6.  Named among the stars

Amre found himself in the limelight as he was named in an ‘India Masters’ side which hailed of players like Ashok Malhotra, Sandeep Patil, Yashpal Sharma and Bavinder Singh Sandhu in the year 1997.

7.  Played for five teams in Ranji Trophy

Amre represented five domestic teams in the Indian domestic circuit. He featured for Bengal, Mumbai, Railways, Rajasthan and eventually ended his career with Goa. He also played domestic cricket for Boland in South Africa.

8.  Terrific record

Amre scored plenty of runs in the domestic circuit. He amassed 5815 runs in 86 First-Class matches at a decent average of over 48, with 17 centuries and 25 half-centuries to his name. And in List A, in 11 outings he collected 425 runs at 42.50.

9.  Coached many teams and players 

Post-retirement, Amre decided to make the utmost use of his talent and knowledge by passing the mantle to budding talents and turned into a coach. Amre is a renowned coach and have mentored and trained various domestic teams and players. He has also worked with Indian stars like Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina and Ajinkya Rahane. At present he is the assistant coach of Delhi Daredevils (DD) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).