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The Rediff Cricket Interview / Debashish Mohanty

'My ambition was to play a Test in Australia against Australia'

The only son of a section officer in the Orissa government, Debashish Mohanty is the first cricketer from the eastern state to play for India. He played his first Ranji Trophy match against Hyderabad in 1996 and finished with nine wickets. The performance immediately earned him a place in the East Zone Duleep Trophy team. Since then, there has been no looking back, though it has been a bag of mixed fortunes for the promising 24-year-old right arm medium fast bowler.

Debashish made his one-day international debut against Pakistan in the Sahara Cup of 1997. However, with Indian conditions not proving helpful to his bowling, he found himself in and out of the reckoning till he found a place in the 1999 World Cup team. But that came only at the last moment and despite not being in the original list of probables. He did make the team for the recent tour of Australia, but returned without playing a single Test.

Faisal Shariff caught up with the gangling, soft-spoken lad during the Challenger series last week.

From that Sahara Cup series till the tour of Australia how much have you learnt and changed?

I have changed a lot. When I played in the Sahara Cup I didn't know much about my bowling; I was pretty unaware of my own bowling skills.

So you didn't know what you were bowling?

No, I knew what I was doing, but I didn't know much about what I was bowling actually in the Sahara Cup. Then, after that, Srinath and Prasad gave me a few tips. They told me how to bowl in the slog overs and in the middle overs when the ball didn't move.

It has been three years and there's always a little problem that you always miss out from being selected into the final eleven. Does it affect you, your mind?

You know the best eleven will have to play whatever it may be. But sometimes it's hard to believe that you're not in the eleven; but there's no alternative. You have to back yourself and say 'ok whenever I get a chance I will have to perform'.

But for a fast bowler, it was like ... you were there in Australia looking at the bounce. Weren't you getting tempted?

Of course, but because Srinath and Prasad are senior players, and Ajit also was doing well in the Test match, I had to sit out. Yes, but my ambition actually was to play in Australia in a Test against Australia. But it didn't click. And yes, I am unhappy about it.

Many former cricketers including Bobby Simpson spoke about your talent, your ability to bowl that inswinger and the outswinger with the same open-chested action. If you were to explain it to a layman how would you?

I have a very natural bowling action. I mean I worked real hard to get my bowling right. It actually depends on the action and release of the ball. It depends on the grip; on how you hold the ball. In my case, I generally bowl the outswinger with the new ball, and bowl the inswinger with the old ball. And sometimes, I bowl the inswinger with the new ball. I mean if I bowl three or four balls it might happen just twice. Not like if I want to bowl genuine outswingers, six out of five I will bowl will be outswingers.

But it's not the same case with the inswinger. Generally, when the ball gets older it will come in. I think that any pace bowler has to hit the seam regularly. If you hit the seam it will definitely move a bit either way; either inswing or outswing. The main thing is to hit the deck.

So you concentrate mainly on hitting the deck?

Yes, I concentrate mainly on hitting the deck. And if you will hit the deck it will definitely go either way.

Then how come Orissa doesn't have so many players? How did you start bowling? How did Debashish Mohanty start? When did you take up bowling?

I think it was 1991. I was playing for Ranjit club. Actually, at the beginning of my childhood I started playing as a batsman, gully cricket actually. And after my matriculation I started cricket seriously. I went to some clubs and then learnt a lot under my coach Kamal Ganguly. He said you have got good height, you should bowl medium pace and not be a batsman. So I started bowling just for fun, not seriously. Then after that I didn't play well while batting, so he said take your job as a pace bowler.

But how come you took up cricket? Did anyone in your family ever play cricket before?

No, I saw Kapil Paaji in the '83 World Cup. After -- that from '83 to '90 -- whenever there used to be a match, everybody in our family would sit together and watch the match. That's why I started playing cricket ... after watching Kapil Paaji. My mother, father and everybody in the family watched cricket very closely.

Did you go to watch matches yourself or did someone recommend you to go?

I went myself, because at that time there were not many matches. I thought of going to MRF (The Pace Foundation) and spending some time at MRF. I thought that if I went there I would be able to learn something.

So how was your experience with MRF? Your experience with Dennis Lillee?

The first time I went there I didn't meet Lillee; (T A) Shekhar worked a lot on my game. I stayed there for one-and-a-half months. We were doing more of training, not much of bowling because initially we do training a lot, then after that we steadily come back to bowling.

So how much did you learn?

Yes, I didn't know what were sit-ups at that time. I didn't know what was training and what muscles one had to build. When I went there and came back I knew which muscles are to be built and about other such important information. It was a good learning experience.

So what did you do after the MRF experience?

Then after the MRF experience, they picked 30 members for a camp in Bangalore. I went there and saw Sachin and everyone. That was my first time with him. I was so tensed to bowl then. For the first time somebody from Orissa was representing or being part of the national squad.

So how was it bowling to Sachin for the first time?

First I didn't bowl to Sachin; I bowled to Rahul (Dravid) and (V V S) Laxman. Then after that I was picked for the Sri Lanka tour. (Ajay) Jadeja told me, 'You are in the team.' I didn't believe that I was in the team. If you compare that Debashish Mohanty of then and of today, it's totally different -- in bowling as well as in confidence.

How was it like bowling your first ball in a Test match? What was the feeling? Did any of the players talk to you before start of the game?

Nothing. I mean the previous night they said 'you are in the playing eleven'. I was so tensed. We won the toss and elected to field. Then, before going on to the field I was very tense. After I went on the field it lightened down a bit.

Sachin, who was the captain, came to me and said 'just go and enjoy yourself'. He told me not to be tense and assured me that I would do well. I bowled the first ball to Sanath Jayasuriya who was in great form then.

And then came the Sahara Cup. You and Harvinder Singh grabbed the opportunity with both hands. The team wasn't in full strength; no one really thought that India would win 4-1. How did you guys pull it off, and that too against Pakistan?

Everybody played from the heart, actually. Madeepa was our manager at that time and Sachin our captain. And even though nobody was there (Srinath, Prasad nor Kumble) we pulled off a great series win. Kuruvilla, Harvinder, Nilesh Kulkarni and I bowled with a lot of heart. Dada (Saurav Ganguly) played brilliantly. He took around 13 wickets and scored some runs. I thought it was basically a team effort; not that I or Harvinder or Dadda did it, but it was the team effort that got us glory.

Kuruvilla and I opened the bowling, then Harvinder and Dadda would come, and then Nilesh and Robin. Sometimes it happened that the change would click -- like if you send somebody to do pinch-hitting. He scores some runs and it changes the whole thing. Similarly, if you give the ball to somebody and say 'I want a wicket' and he picks up a wicket, it changes the whole game.

What happened after that? You didn't come to terms with international cricket?

After that I went to Pakistan and didn't fare too well. It was the Pakistan Independence Cup and I didn't do that well. I came back and went to MRF.

Did you meet Lillee then?

No, after coming back from Sri Lanka I stayed for two days in Madras. That time I met Lillee.

So what did you learn from Lillee? How was your experience with him?

He gave me a few tips. Two days was too little time to really learn too much. Whatever I have learnt is from T A Shekhar. Because he knows me well and was there for me. Lillee would come for ten days and see us in the nets, on film, and tell us the mistakes we made. Shekhar would be there all the time. He knows what I am. Whatever I have learnt, I have learnt from Shekhar; that's what I think!

Where did you flee suddenly? In between you vanished; Debashish Mohanty was nowhere? Everyone was talking of him as the next fast bowler for India, who bowls with a lot of variety? Where were you? What was happening at that time?

Mainly, I didn't do that well in Pakistan and was dropped for the Sharjah tour. And I suddenly came back again in the Sri Lanka home series. I did reasonably well. I played two matches and took six wickets. And I got picked for the Bangladesh Independence Cup; that time also I did reasonably well. When I came back I went with the India 'A' to Pakistan. I was there for a month but it was raining all the time and didn't get to play. When I came back, it was the Australia home series. I didn't play in the Test matches but played one coaching match. That match was horrible; the worst experience I had. After that my bowling was reasonably well.

I played a Duleep Trophy match and took two wickets. I bowled in only one innings. And then I played in the Ranji Trophy again. Again I got picked for the Deodhar Trophy. That year we won the championship. In January, I was picked for SAARC tournament in Bangladesh; along with Harvinder and Arvundum Sarkar, who is from Bengal. Sukhwinder Singh was also there. We did reasonably well. After that I came back, played the Wills Trophy and went to MRF.

'If I tried something different I wouldn't have played for India'
The Mohanty interview continues

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