Over the years, Sachin Tendulkar’s school has become synonymous with cricket. But Tendulkar is not the only cricketer of note to emerge from the school.
MUMBAI: When you think school cricket and Mumbai, there is one name that comes instantly to mind: Shardashram Vidyamandir.
Over the years, Sachin Tendulkar’s school has become synonymous with cricket. But Tendulkar is not the only cricketer of note to emerge from the school. Vinod Kambli, Pravin Amre, Chandrakant Pandit and Ajit Agarkar all have given the school a standing that no other educational institute has in the country.
But times change and when the mighty dynasties of yore have not been able to survive, could one expect Shardashram’s domination to continue?
It was two decades ago, under coach Ramakant Achrekar, that Shardashram ended Anjuman-I-Islam High School’s (Fort) domination in the Harris Shield Inter-school cricket tournament and went on to win the tournament 9 times in the next 12 years.
Those 12 years saw Shardashram and its cricketers etch their names in the record books more often than any other institution in the city. Whether it was the world record partnership worth 664 runs between Tendulkar and Kambli or the latter’s record of highest individual score, Shardashram looked unstoppable and unbeatable.
“We were right on top then,” remembers Mumbai batsman Amol Muzumdar, former Shardashram student.
“(Ramakant) Achrekar Sir had a knack of choosing the best talent and that paid off for the school.”
But post-1995, the dream turned into a nightmare. Shardashram’s dominance ceased; since 1996, the school has won just one Harris Shield title in 1999. So what has caused the steep decline in Shardashram’s fortunes?
“When Shardashram was on its peak, not many schools in Mumbai encouraged cricket. So anyone who wanted to pursue the sport had to come to schools like ours,” says Naresh Churi, current Shardashram coach and ex-student.
“How else can one explain Tendulkar and Kambli travelling all the way from Bandra and Kanjur Marg respectively to Dadar even though they had good schools closer home?”
It was in the first year of Churi’s tenure in 1999 that the school last managed a title before going into oblivion again.
Even Pravin Amre, an ex-student who represented India and the current chairman of the BCCI’s junior selection committee agrees. “Growing number of schools has definitely caused an issue,” he says. “Even as Achrekar Sir will be missed, this is one thing that should not be ignored.”
Adding weight to their claims is the rise of suburban schools like IES New English (Bandra), which incidentally is where Tendulkar studied before joining Shardashram in search of cricketing excellence, and Rizvi Springfield (Bandra) among others.
“Achrekar Sir had the advantage of choice. But now even to collect eleven quality players has become difficult,” says Churi, while highlighting how difficult things have become for the school.
Things really start to look good when one realises that the team will play Rizvi Springfield in the final of the Harris Shield on Monday. Will this match signal the rise of Shardashram once again or will it spell their doom?
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