A Bahrain-based boy’s chase towards his dream of playing in the IPL and international cricket

 By K.R. Nayar

This is an inspiring tale of a 14-year-old boy, Vishwaesh Gurumurthy, who, despite living in a country where cricket is still in its sprouting stage, has been chasing his dream of playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) player and international cricket. The enormous effort he has been putting in, backed by his father Gurumurthy, is an example on how dreams can be chased with determination. Gurumurthy, in addition to backing his son also has supported the creation of a High Performance Cricket Academy in Bahrain so that other children too can chase their dreams like his son

Vishwaesh Gurumurthy in action

Just because you grow up in a Gulf country where cricket is not as popular as in a Test cricket playing nation, one should not shy away from dreaming big and chase one’s goal. The legendary pacer Waqar Younis spent his earlier days in Sharjah, especially when cricket facilities weren’t as good as it is now here. Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik did his schooling in Kuwait but chased his dream after learning the basics from his father.

The tale of 14-year-old Vishwaesh Gurumurthy, who is chasing his dream despite growing up in Bahrain, is an inspiring one. He started off at the age of 10, and at that time in 2018, there were hardly any facilities for playing cricket there. Speaking to krbuzz.blogspot.com, Vishwaesh sounded very confident when he said: “My dream is to play for the Indian Premier League (IPL) by the age of 20 and go on to play international cricket.”  

Backing Vishwaesh’s dream is his father, a passionate lover of the game, who has also helped create coaching opportunities for many budding cricketers.  Along with his son, he also wanted other youngsters who would have been deprived of coaching facilities to get high-level training, and hence backed the setting up of Bahrain’s High Performance Cricket Academy.

Vishwaesh with his father Gurumurthy

A chance encounter with this son and father who are working relentlessly on their dream brought to light an important message: when chasing a dream follow it sincerely by putting everything into it, creating opportunities even if not available, and if needed travelling to any part of the world to accomplish it. “I am extremely pleased with Vishwaesh’s commitment. My role is to back him, and as a parent, we expect more; but I am pleased with his commitment. However, I do not want to pressurise him too much.  I want him to thoroughly enjoy the game and the process of chasing his dream,” said Gurumurthy.

The manner in which the father-son duo has chased their dream is unbelievable. While the son is willing to work hard and push his endurance to any level, the father creates as many opportunities as possible for his son’s dream to blossom. Gurumurthy went to talk about how he has been clearing the path for his son.

 

“Right from the age of 10, Vishwaesh wanted to become a fast bowler. He started playing with one of the local academies in Bahrain. There were nearly 50 to 60 children at a time in one academy with only two coaches and there were just two to three nets. So, most of the time 15 to 20 children would be standing in a line to get their chance to bowl.”

 “I had noticed that even at the age of 10, Vishwaesh was generating good speed in his bowling. That was when I felt he needed a proper bowling coach. So in 2019, I started accompanying him for matches and saw in him an earnest interest in the game.”

Gurumurthy was then on the lookout for a coach who could groom pacers and he got introduced to renowned fast bowling coach TA Sekar. It was Sekar, who over the years, has created a fast bowling culture in India and produced many pacers. “Sekar Sir was kind enough to have a look at my son and in October 2019 we did a one-to-one session with him. In the same year in December, we went to him again for some more sessions. The last two years was a big journey for Vishwaesh. He learned a number of skills from a bowling perspective because this was the first time we heard from someone that for fast bowling you don’t generate speed by using your bowling arm. He taught him that his control, pace and athleticism is would actually be on his non-bowling arm. In 2020, we again went to India and spent two to three months with Sekar Sir. Due to the pandemic lockdown, we got stuck in Chennai. Even though everything was closed in Chennai, we used to go to Sekar Sir’s house and he would take us to his terrace and take bowling sessions. This really helped him a lot.”

Renowned coach TA Sekar shapes Vishwaesh 

For Vishwaesh, the guidance from Sekar was an eye-opener. “Sekar Sir not only taught me the skills but also suggested that I work on my fitness. I was so keen to live up to his suggestion that at 5.30 am every day I started to go running. My uncle also helped in this as they would assist me in various workout sessions on their terrace,” said Vishwaesh.

Training sessions with TA Sekar 

On returning from India, Gurumurthy decided to work on creating a very strong coaching infrastructure in Bahrain so that not only his son but other aspiring kids too could benefit from it. “I was very keen to build a High Performance Cricket Coaching infrastructure. There was a cricket enthusiast named Jayaraj who has been coaching in Bahrain for the last 10 years. I helped him in setting up High Performance Cricket Academy. While I did not have any commercial interests in doing this, since he could use some support, I decided to provide it. We leased a place by the beachside in a beautiful football club named Al Najma Club. They gave us the space to set up four nets.”

Vishwaesh's transformed approach to bowling  

Gurumurthy also realised that infrastructure alone cannot produce players. “The most important question was who would be coaching there. I also wanted a personal coach for Vishwaesh so that there would be continuity from what he learned in India. We hired coach Prabodha Arthavidu who had played for Sri Lanka’s Under-19 team and was coaching in New Zealand.  He started shaping up the kids here.  He also worked in conjunction with Sekar Sir, taking bowling videos and sending it to him.”

Though Vishwaesh wants to primarily be a fast bowler, he also wants to be an all-rounder with good batting skills. “To improve my batting, I started working with Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan (who played India Under25 and IPL for Chennai Super Kings). I am also being trained by Coach Jesu Babu Honeymen (who played for Tamil Nadu) to hone my batting skills on a daily basis. Coach Prabodha also manages my strengthening and conditioning aspects,” says Vishwaesh.

Soon Vishwaesh began to produce excellent results in Bahrain domestic cricket. “In the recent matches in Bahrain, I did well both in bowling and batting. I captained the HPCA Spartans team to the title triumph. I also scored a half-century and had the best economical bowling spell of four overs giving away just five runs and taking five wickets. To get more match exposure, now I also come to train at the Sharjah Cricket Academy almost two to three times in a month and train under ACC and ICC accredited coach Deepak Murali. I also play matches in Ajman, Sharjah and at the Vision Cricket ground. I wanted to come every week but it has been tough due to quarantine restrictions,’’ noted Vishwaesh.

HPCA Spartans emerge champions in Bahrain under Vishwaesh's captaincy    

After watching Vishwaesh’s keenness to become physically fitter, Gurumurthy decided to look for the best opportunities in this area. “The most important criteria for fast bowling is strength and conditioning. So I got Vishwaesh to work with Steffan Jones, the bowling consultant for Rajasthan Royals. Steffan has coached some of the finest Indian fast bowlers like Ishant Sharma, Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aroon, etc. Vishwaesh had a few online sessions with Steffan.”

This led to Vishwaesh now joining Wellington School in Somerset, UK, from September 2021. “Steffan is the Director of Cricket at the Wellington School and one of the most popular biomechanic specialists. Vishwaesh will be training under Steffan for fast bowling. Wellington is the only school in the world that has a pace lab to groom pacers. There are nearly four ECB Level 4 coaches in this school. Many Indian fast bowlers go to Wellington school and practice there for nearly a month. So Vishwaesh is very excited to join this boarding school.”

Gurumurthy says that Vishwaesh has had an amazing change in his body structure now compared to what it was a year ago. “The most important suggestion I have given to Vishwaesh is to enjoy the game and perform.  I have seen the progress he has made from a bowling perspective. At the age of 13, he used to bowl at a speed of around 80kph. Now at 14, he has touched 97 - 100kph. In matches, his speed is around 94kph, which I think is good for his age. So its cricket all the way for him, chasing his dream. It starts from 5 30- 6 30 am with strengthening and conditioning followed by bowling with Prabodha, and in the evening a batting session with Jesu Babu Honeymen, followed by a group session. He spends nearly five to six hours working on his game.”

In addition to this, for him to stay focussed on his goal, Gurumurthy felt it was important that he had a coach who would strengthen him mentally. “I believe that all budding cricketers need a strong mindset. So, in 2020, we approached a well-known NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Coach Vidyashankar who has trained many Olympics athletes. He has been working with Vishwaesh for the last one year,” said Gurumurthy, who also ensures that Vishwaesh has a good diet plan.

“Steffan has given him a complete diet plan.  At this age for the kind of work he does, he requires a lot of carbohydrates and proteins and must ensure that he does not get too fat. So after his workout and bowling session, he takes protein.  We are in touch with Shiny Surendran, (a sports nutritionist and weight management consultant) who has he has been helping the Tamil Nadu cricket team for a while.  She is one of the ICC accredited Sports Nutritionists and Vishwaesh has been following her diet plan.”

Wellington School's cricket ground where Vishwaesh will be training  

The step to go to England was a well-thought-out decision. “This decision was taken after a lot of discussion with Sekar Sir. He also knows Steffan very well, and he feels this is the right time for him to go to England.  We will see in the next two years how it all shapes up,” says Gurumurthy, who believes that to achieve a dream and a goal, no stone must be left unturned. Both Vishwaesh and Gurumurthy believe in the famous quote “Believe you can and you're halfway there.” 

Vishwaesh knows he has miles to go, but right now he is enjoying the journey and his efforts.