Cricket: Raghu finds his calling as India’s assistant

Twelve years ago, when cricket-crazy Raghavindraa DVGI, aka Raghu, a native of Kumta in North Canara district of Karnataka, decided to go to Mumbai, he had a dream of playing for India.

Though he failed to make it big as a player, his sheer love for the game has earned him a ticket to Australia, where he is going as an assistant to the Indian team.

But for Raghu, employed with the National Cricket Academy (NCA) as a training assistant, the journey has been a tough one. He is the son of a school teacher and always wanted to become a cricketer. However, his family was completely against him playing the game.

So one day, a 15-year-old Raghu, for whom cricket is ‘everything’, gave up studies after completing his higher secondary course. He decided to go to Mumbai against his father’s will in order to undergo training from legendary coach Ramakant Achrekar.

His unsuccessful stint in Mumbai lasted just three years and he went to Hubli. There he represented a few clubs for a couple of years but failed as a cricketer. Raghu, however, couldn’t live without cricket and he finally landed up in Bangalore.

Irfan Sait, Karnataka Institute of Cricket’s chief coach, where Raghu worked till 2008 before landing up with a job at the NCA, said, “In Hubli, a common friend introduced me to Raghu and asked whether I could take care of this cricket-crazy guy who wants to play as well assist me in coaching to sustain himself in the city,”

At KIOC, apart from playing for Swastic Union Cricket Club, Raghu assisted Sait by giving throwdowns to batsmen at the camp. In fact, it was during this period that Raghu started making trips to the Chinnaswamy Stadium to assist senior cricketers.

“Whenever I used to get requests from KSCA for practice bowlers to bowl at the Indian team or Ranji cricketers at the nets, I used to send Raghu for throwdowns,” recalled Sait.

It was here that he developed a rapport with cricketers and also caught the eyes of the authorities through his sheer hard work.

Finally, in 2008, he got a job with the NCA. Since then, Raghu has assisted all players who come down to NCA. From Sachin Tendulkar to Rahul Dravid to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, every batsman in the present Indian team has taken throwdowns from Raghu.

Raghu’s biggest moment came when the BCCI decided to send him to Australia as an assistant with the Indian team.

When DNA tried to contact Raghu, who will leave for Australia with the first batch on December 8, he was not reachable. But Sait, whom he met on Tuesday evening, said that he was elated and also had tears in his eyes when he came to distribute sweets at KIOC.

In this cricket-crazy nation, Raghu is a shining example that you don’t need to be a top cricketer like Tendulkar or Dhoni to be noticed. Sheer passion can take you places. If India overcome the Australians Down Under, Raghu too should deserve credit for giving throwdowns to the Tendulkars and the Dhonis for hours at a stretch.