Vicky Ostwal is 19-going on-20 right now. A World Cup winner already, this exciting young talent – who bowls left-arm slow – hails from Lonavala, a hill-station between Mumbai and Pune.
Born to a local businessman there, Vicky was once branded a ‘chucker’ and almost not allowed to bowl in state selection matches. There was a time when he was dropped from the zonal Under-16 state team due to an action that was “deemed” suspect. Doubts were raised about his action in the zonal camps too.
We’ll get to the story later but more importantly, Ostwal’s story is a reminder of how BCCI needs to work at the junior level to ensure young cricketers don’t become a victim of name-calling, public shaming and other such forms of humiliation.
“The most hurtful thing wasn’t him being called a ‘chucker’. The hurtful thing was him being called that publicly, being left out of the team, being ‘branded’ but nobody bothered to realise he was barely a 14-15 year-old boy with no broader understanding of anything. Instead of public- shaming, someone should’ve come to his aid and helped him. Nobody did,” say those who saw it unfold all those years ago.
Ostwal’s father, Kanhaiya, had little idea how to go about. But he knew one thing, a fact underlined by his coach Mohan Jadhav, that young Vicky had potential. “And he had worked hard for it,” say those who saw him go about.
The train journeys he kept taking, first to the Dilip Vengsarkar academy in Mumbai and then to the academy in Pune, are already documented. What’s not is the horrors he went through as a bowler.
“So, when he continuously kept getting dropped at the Under-16 level, Kanhaiyaji was advised to take Vicky to the SRMC in Chennai”. Sri Ramchandra Institute of Higher Education & Research is an ICC affiliated centre that corrects suspect action. To head the re comes at a price. “And that’s where, nobody came to the boy’s aid. It’s a costly affair to spend on your own at SRMC. It showcases how just having infrastructure is not the only important bit. Ensuring the right talents get the right help is equally important. Vicky’s father didn’t know how to go about,” say those who’ve seen him closely.
That’s when an acquaintance advised Ostwal Sr to head to Pune and meet Atul Gaikwad, a PhD in biomechanics and a Level-3 coach from NCA and Brisbane’s Centre of Excellence. Gaikwad has worked with India coach Rahul Dravid at the NCA in the past.
“Yes, the boy came to me and over the next few months we spent some time on it. The action wasn’t ‘suspect’, it just needed a tweak between the bowling arm going up and straightening out before the ball left the hand. We did a few sessions,” Gaikwad told TOI. Young Ostwal found his calling again. Confidence levels returned and he was back to bowling at his best. The World Cup victory underlines it.