da brdice： There are those who can express their pain
da wazamba： Sakyasen Mittra25-Jun-2001There are those who can express their pain. And then there are thosewho cannot. Debu Mitra falls into the second category. And just whomight Debu Mitra be? Well, he is the coach who trained the Gangulybrothers, Snehasish and the Indian captain Sourav when they wereyoung. In fact at one point of time, Mitra concentrated only on Souravso that he could make a comeback to the Indian team after hisdisastrous tour to Australia in 1991-92.Whenever Sachin Tendulkar has a problem with his batting, he stillcalls up Ramakant Achrekar, the man who had taught him the basics. Therelation between a student and his first coach always goes a long wayin solving problems that may creep into one’s technique. Mitra, whohas seen Ganguly from his early days, is however not in a position tohelp the Indian captain. He does not want to talk about a cricketer,who was once his student. He suffers in agony as he sees Gangulyfailing time after time. He has the answers to Ganguly’s battingproblems. However, he refuses to talk about them. “Why should I tellyou,” he asks. “Will it help Sourav to score runs.” In fact, hedoes not even want to talk about his famous student. However, one canfeel the pain that comes out with every word. “No, I do not want totalk about his cricket. He is the Indian captain now and he maymisunderstand me if I go out of my way to tell him anything,” hesays.All through the 25-minute discussion, Mitra was adamant on one issue.”I cannot impose myself on him. Unless he asks me, I cannot talk tohim,” he says. “There are quite a few people who will cry foul if Iapproach him with suggestions. I do not want that to happen. There aretimes he talks to me. But it is rarely on his batting.”During the course of the discussion, Mitra made it clear that thefailures may continue to torment the Indian captain. “Certain minordefects have to be corrected,” he states. “But then as I saidbefore, I cannot go to him.” He disagrees that as Ganguly’s firstcoach, it is his responsibility to point out the faults he hasnoticed. When persisted on this point, he maintains silence.There are times when a person has to return to his roots to rediscover his own identity. Who knows, Ganguly may need just that. Heis already under pressure regarding his form over the last few months.A couple of more failures will have the critics baying for his head.Perhaps the time has come for Ganguly to return to his roots, even ifit is for a short time. Maybe in the long run, he will benefit. Mitrais waiting but is Ganguly listening?
