Mumbai's school of batsmanship reopens

The flavour of Mumbai's school of batsmanship, which has dominated Indian cricket over the years, had gone missing for a while, leaving a bit of a bland feeling.

But after a brief lull, it is back.
When a young Prithvi Shaw took the field at Rajkot's Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium as the 293rd Test player to play for India last week, not only was he burdened with his own expectations – and of those who wanted to see the next Sachin Tendulkar -- but also the hopes of millions of cricket-mad fans of a city.

And boy didn't he live up to that.
The 18-year-old showed his potential in his first international game itself, hitting a ton on debut against Kragg Brathwaite's West Indies. Shaw followed it up with classy 70 and an unbeaten 33 in the second Test that saw him bag the man of the series award.

The success of Shaw in top-flight cricket in his first series has brought back not just the sense of anticipation but also happiness and satisfaction among the followers of Mumbai cricket and its former city players.
A city that has dominated the country's domestic cricket circuit – 41 Ranji Trophy titles with 15 back-to-back ones – once boasted of producing the Manjrekars, Umrigars, Sardersais, Gavaskars, Vengsarkars, Shastris and Patils in the Indian team.

Then, a certain Sachin Tendulkar made his debut in 1989 and took the world by storm with his attacking batting style, breaking and creating records one after another till he ended his career 2013.
Many Mumbai batsmen came and went in the meantime but none that could create an impact or become the heart of the India's batting line-up.

Coming from the same Ramakant Achrekar's stable as Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli showed promised before fizzling out too soon.
The classy Wasim Jaffer, too, was not able to charm the cricketing world with his stylish batting due to lack of consistency.

There was a phase when there was no Mumbai batsman barring Tendulkar in and around the Indian team.
The dearth of Mumbai's school of batsmanship was visible before an unorthodox yet effective Rohit Sharma barged on to the scene in 2007, before the reliable Ajinkya Rahane became the backbone of India's Test team. More recently, the attacking Shreyas Iyer has been on the fringes too.

But Shaw's entry has been quite something else, giving a shot in the arm to Mumbai's school of batsmanship again, albeit with a modern touch.
"There was no lull as such," said Milind Rege, former Mumbai chief selector who was instrumental in bringing Shaw alongside the big guys in Ranji Trophy.

"Players like Sachin, Rohit, Prithvi don't come every now and then. They are special players. It's not that we have not had batsmen, it's just that they have not been able to stay there," he added.
Rege is, however, happy to see a bunch of Mumbai players in and around the Indian team line-up currently.

Rohit is making waves in India's limited-overs team, while Rahane is back among the runs in the longest format after a little low period. Pacer Shardul Thakur made his Test debut in Hyderabad, just a game after Shaw made his.
It's no coincidence that most of the biggest names to come out and flourish from Mumbai cricket are batsmen, and Shaw is the latest example of that.

"We have never curbed a person's natural strokeplay, allowing him do what he is capable of or whatever his strengths are," Rege said.
"In the 80s we had Dilip, Sunil, Ravi Shastri, Sandeep Patil as the backbone of Indian cricket. We had Gavaskar, (Dilip) Sardesai, (Ajit) Wadekar, Ashok Mankad that won in England (in 1971).

"Mumbai's batsmen have been the backbone of Indian cricket always. But in the 90s, apart from Tendulkar, nobody came forward. There was talent but no world-class cricketers," he added.
Former India cricketer Praveen Amre, who like Shaw hit a ton on his Test debut in South Africa in 1992, is also ecstatic that another special player has burst on to the scene from Mumbai.

"Mumbai batsmen have got a different style and all of them have something special. Rohit is special, he has got three double tons. Prithvi is in a different league and is coming there. What a brilliant debut he had.
"Ajinkya may not be flamboyant like the others but he comes from the Dravid mode, being the mainstay of the batting line-up. The team looks up to him. And that is what Mumbai has been all about. Not one style. Everybody's got their own style," Amre said.

In the earlier days, the Mumbai school of batsmanship was known for its 'khadoos' (stubborn) attitude, one of not giving away wickets and playing with the straight bat. However, today's batsmen are different.
"Previous players followed the Gavaskar type of cricket. Today's players follow the Tendulkar or Kohli or Rohit style of cricket. Hence, you see them being more aggressive," Rege said.

"You see your idol play, and you want to follow him. IPL has changed the game and has had an impact on today's players. However, you still find the Pujaras and the Rahanes too," he added.

Amre seconded the view that the advent of IPL has brought about a change in the game, even in Mumbai cricket.
"There were just two formats earlier. Today, we have all three formats and the T20 format has opened up the players and made them fearless. Thus, you will see today's players playing Tests in aggressive style too," Amre said.