Chhattisgarh: from nonentities to victors in three months

In July, on his first day in charge as Chhattisgarh's head coach, Sulakshan Kulkarni was asked to give a motivational speech to the probables selected for a camp ahead of the state's Ranji Trophy debut. The former Mumbai wicketkeeper, who had been a part of six winning teams, adopted a unique method.

He brought with him from Mumbai a replica of the Ranji Trophy and placed it on the table next to him. "Is it a trophy you won for being the best coach?" someone in the group asked him just before he began. "That is when it struck me that I was with a state that didn't have a cricketing tradition, and that we needed to build one," Kulkarni told ESPNcricinfo.

"I replied: 'This is what you will be playing for. Come one by one, feel it, take photos, selfies, whatever. Post it on social media - Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, wherever. One day, we will win this trophy. That's the privilege you all have after 16 years of struggle. Make it worth it. Imagine the feeling of holding this together as a group. You will understand that only when you win.' There was silence." The motivational speech ended there.

On Saturday, the group led by Mohammad Kaif became the first side since Punjab, in 1968-69, to win their first Ranji Trophy match, when they outclassed Tripura by nine wickets in Ranchi. Once victory had been sealed, the team remembered their coach's words. As well as they had begun, though, Kulkarni was quick to remind the group that bigger battles lay ahead.

A man with a sharp eye for talent, Kulkarni remembers being spellbound by the team's belief at an Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy game against Mumbai in Mumbai in 2014. "Chhattisgarh almost beat them," he says. "They dared to declare to have a chance of an outright win. I was watching from the stands; the attitude excited me immensely. That they lost is a different issue, but they showed intent. That told you they had something. So when this opportunity came up [to coach Chhattisgarh] my mind went back to that."

Upon assuming his duties, one of the first things he needed to do was prepare a plan to get the side game-ready in less than three months. Kulkarni, in no uncertain terms, told the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh to organise matches. "I wanted to identify a core group of 20-22 players before the season," Kulkarni says. "And I wanted to get in at least six to ten matches."

The side played in the All-India Invitational Buchi Babu tournament in August in Chennai, where they beat more accomplished sides from Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh in matches played in a two-day format. "It was there that I first saw their ability to play on rank turners, especially against the hosts," Kulkarni says. Amandeep Khare's 193 against UP, according to the coach, infused self-belief into the batting unit. Chhattisgarh finished runners-up.

Then at the Bapuna Cup, a tournament featuring four-day games organised by the Vidarbha Cricket Association in Nagpur in September, the side got a taste of playing on flat surfaces. The bowlers delivered, the batsmen piled on the runs and they emerged champions in the four-team tournament. "I think that's where the boys were pushed hard with the ball, the same qualities they showed here [in their Ranji Trophy opener]," Kaif, the captain, says. "They learnt to make things happen when there was nothing."

In their final league game against Himachal Pradesh at the Bapuna Cup, Chhattisgarh had the option of batting out for a draw, which would have given them the trophy. At 400 for 4 with little over a day left, Kaif and Kulkarni decided to push for an outright result. They blasted 97 in the next hour to declare. "Next day we bowled them out and chased down 30-odd to win," Kulkarni says, pointing to Kaif's leadership as the driving force.

The idea, according to him, was to have the team get a feel of an outright win. "Kaif led the side superbly, he handled all the bowlers well and that's where his experience had a telling effect," Kulkarni says. "It showed in our first game [at the Ranji Trophy] too."

He elaborated on an incident to show the value of having an aggressive captain. "[Himachal's] Robin Bist, at this level, is a superb player. Against a quality player, you need a quality attack or a great captain. In the second innings of that Nagpur game, the ball was reversing, so Kaif had three fielders on the leg side - short mid-on, short midwicket and short square leg.

"He told the bowler to stick to his normal line and not try to reverse. He kept bringing it in and then got one away, which the batsman edged to the keeper. After the match, even Bist came up to us and acknowledged the plan. You have won half your battle if you can plot and execute plans like that. So he's a bowler's captain.

"I'm not worried about the runs he makes; he can make a zero, but his contribution in bringing the best out of ten players is worth more than just his personal contribution. He gives you variety as a captain, which will augur well for this team. He's that sort of a person. A good captain can make bowlers better than they are."

At training and off the field, there's a clear demarcation in the roles played by the captain and coach. Kaif, the senior-pro and domestic veteran, is the man-manager, motivator and elder brother who "chills" with the boys. Kaif says he wasn't ready to coach full-time because he believed he could contribute as a player, just like he did in Andhra after his decade-and-a-half journey with Uttar Pradesh. Dealing with a young group eager to prove themselves, according to him, was the biggest motivation.

"At this stage of my career, I wanted to give back to the game," he says. "I wanted to groom a set of players who can move up. I wasn't ready for a coaching opportunity alone though. If I wanted to just score runs and take slip catches, I could have opted to do that. But I wanted to interact with younger players, guide them and share my experiences. That's what excited me about the Chhattisgarh role."

Kaif is outspoken about his objectives. "When I was coming through in Uttar Pradesh, you were recognised as someone's brother or someone's relative or son," he says. "People didn't have their own identity. Even if they did, there was someone to always pull you down. So there was a senior-junior divide, because seniors were often insecure if they saw a talented youngster. Here, I want everyone to know I am around at any time. They can talk to me freely without the fear of saying something wrong. Basically, they should speak up and not be shy.

"I was shy too as an 18-year-old. It affected me when I played for India. Maybe I didn't make the effort to mingle freely with seniors like Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly outside the field. So I want these players, many of whom are in a professional set up for the first time, to be comfortable. So we often have team dinners, get-togethers and team activities to understand the group. They're a lot more comfortable now than they were two months ago."

Kulkarni adds: "It's easier mingling with these boys and talking to them because there are no ego battles. That's because everyone is starting off at the same level. Unlike other sides, where those who have played for India may or may not gel with the group, everyone is hungry for success, so coaching is a lot simpler. You can't sink further from the basement. You can only climb with this sort of an approach."

Mentoring aside, Kulkarni deals with specifics: batting, slip catching, fielding, flat throws, and video analysis. At each session, players are asked to identify what they could have done better, what they did right and wrong. At the end, the coach has his say. It's a ritual that is limited not just to the playing squad, but to the entire set of probables, some of whom might come into the XI at different stages this season. "It's important to have a feeder system," Kulkarni says. "This is one way of building it. Players outside the group need to know they belong too."

Ask Kulkarni and Kaif who they've been most impressed with, and both of them hardly bat an eyelid. Khare is the unanimous choice. "Amandeep Khare is like a gem," Kulkarni says. "After Rahane and Pujara, I haven't seen a more talented batsman at the Under-19 level than this guy. I would rate him more promising than these two when they were his age. Also Ashutosh Singh is very talented. He reminds me of Karun Nair. He is solid, technically correct and reliable."

What are the worries then? "The bowling," Kaif points out. It is not surprising. In their build-up to the season, the batsmen produced 11 centuries. The bowlers could manage just four five-wicket hauls across both preparatory tournaments leading into the Ranji Trophy. "But we have identified how many bowlers we've got, and how to tackle issues like resting bowlers since we will be playing without a break for nine rounds. We have had the winning momentum right from our preparatory tournaments, so the boys are happy."

Kulkarni adds: "We have formed a core group with five-six pacers and three spinners, who we plan to rotate based on performance and fitness. It will be important to monitor workloads. In Ranji, the bowlers need more rest than the batsmen. We have 20 boys; we will take it one game at a time."

Both of them agree, the key to the long season ahead will be to maintain their intensity and play a positive brand of cricket, considering they will have to fight with nine other sides for two quarter-final spots, unlike in Groups A and B where three out of nine sides qualify. But, as Kaif says: "Teams can't take us lightly, we've shown that."