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Unfazed, he goes on...
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After managing a comeback into the Indian team,Hemang Badani aspires to take a big stride during the VB three-nation limited overs competition down under
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INTERNATIONAL CRICKET is often a rough ride. The road to success is invariably bumpy and there may also be several sharp curves to handle.
It is also an emotional roller coaster with moments of happiness and disappointment taking turns, much like darkness and light.
Having been under the shadows after a date with sunshine, Hemang Badani, the smooth-stroking southpaw from Chennai, seeks brighter times.
He remembers those difficult days well, when he lived on hope and little else. "There were times when people stopped believing in me. I was in a sort of exile for two years. I wondered whether it was worth pushing myself so hard. Then I decided to slug it out."
After managing a reasonable comeback into the Indian team during the TVS tri-series that preceded the tour of Australia, Badani aspires to take a big stride forward during the VB three-nation limited overs competition down under.
While the talent in him has never been in question, Badani has shown that he is not lacking in character. The left-hander made a century against the Kiwis in a tour game in Rajkot this season, enduring a fractured ulna bone of his top hand.
"I got hurt on the second day evening, the New Zealanders came to know of the injury, and they peppered me with short pitched bowling on the third morning," he recalls. In a remarkable display, that saw him overcoming searing pain, Badani won the battle of the mind.
"Despite tablets, I was in a terrible state, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could bat in this condition and still come good." It is this mental toughness that has added a new dimension to his game. Beautifully balanced, whether in defence or offence, Badani, who uses the cut and the pull strokes to telling effect against the pacemen, and dances down the track to the spinners, is geared up for the challenges ahead.
And Australia does represent a fresh hurdle. "I have always been fascinated by cricket in that country. I recall the Indian team members doing a round of the stadium in a car won by Ravi Shastri after the final of the 1985 WCC series," says Badani.
He realises that the pitches down under will be bouncy and the white ball is bound to dart around. "I have been practising with plastic balls. When you bat against a plastic ball hurled at you, you got to keep it down, play it with soft hands. In fact, I have developed quite a few horizontal bat shots too."
Without compromising on his hunger for glory, Badani says he is more relaxed mentally these days. "I now have the belief that if I trust my instincts, I will do well, whatever be the level. I do not get tense in the middle."
He realises that batting at No. 5 or six in the ODIs, the positions he normally walks out, can be a thankless experience. "If your team has done well till that point, then you do not get more than five or six overs, you hardly have any time to settle down. The other scenario is that your team is struggling at, say, 50 for four, when you get in."
There are a lot of other factors that make it tougher for the lower order batsmen to make an impact. "In the latter stages of the match, about the time we usually get in, the white ball becomes muddy, and it is extremely difficult to sight it. If it is a day-night game, then it becomes tough to pick the ball in the twilight.
"In fact, while facing the first two or three deliveries, only luck can save you."
His ODI record is pretty impressive, with the 27-year-old Badani, making 726 runs in 31 matches at 31.56, the highlight being a strokeful hundred at the expense of the Aussie attack in Pune, 2001.
A good thinker of the game, Badani led India `A' in the tri-series for the `A' sides of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Kolkata and says he enjoyed the experience. However, the defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka `A' in the final came as a crushing blow.
On the happier side, India defeated Pakistan `A' twice in the competition. Badani's eyes light up as he dwells on those victories. "Playing Pakistan is always special. You are keyed up, you are charged."
Badani thanks his employer Chemplast and his family for their support along the way. "They have been a pillar of strength to me and I am grateful to them."
The interview over, Badani gets into his car and turns on the ignition key. On the road Badani is, once again...
S. DINAKAR
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