G Force tour diary: Meet Manish Jha, Head Coach of the Uttarakhand team that is creating ripples in Indian cricket

By K.R. Nayar

Meeting successful coaches is always a pleasure. One gets to know how they transform teams into winners. It was informative and inspiring to meet with Manish Jha, Head Coach of Uttarakhand team during the G Force Cricket Academy’s tour of Dehradun at the Abhimanyu Cricket Ground. 

 

Manish Jha... a coach who creates winners 

Within a few minutes on talking to Jha it was evident why he is now considered among the finest coaches in India. He is creating waves with a team that has no superstars, but they are winning matches. This team got recognition from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) only four years ago, but they have been qualifying for the Ranji Trophy quarter- finals for the last three years defying teams that have been playing in this most prestigious Indian tournament for the last 50 years.

 

When asked on how he had managed to make this team so successful, he refused to take the credit. “All I did was to make them believe they are good enough to win. There is enough talent but what they lacked is the trust in themselves that they are good enough to win.”

 

Jha then went on to add: “Before the start of this season, we’ve created a slogan: ‘We will win the Ranji Trophy this year.’ It is with this goal that we are working hard. Play hard, throw your bodies into everything irrespective of the result, and we will emerge winners.” Jha played Ranji Trophy for the Services team before becoming a coach.

 

Manish Jha with G Force Head Coach Gopal Jasapara 

Further elaborating on the important message he had passed on to everyone in his team, he said, “I tell everyone that on paper our opponents may look better but what decides the winner is what one does on the field. We follow a strict policy of never criticising each other but supporting each other. We never allow anyone to be affected by failure.” 

Jha has coached the Services Ranji Trophy team, Delhi Under-23 and Manipur squads before taking over as Uttarakhand’s coach from Wasim Jaffar.

 

As a result of Jha’s approach to coaching, Uttarakhand is now being talked about as one of the best Ranji Trophy teams in India. They repeatedly proved that they are an outstanding team by competing against teams like Bengal, Baroda, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland and Haryana. 

 

Uttarakhand has not only sparkled in the four-day longer version Ranji Trophy but also in limited over tournaments like the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

 

Manish Jha with the G Force tour group 

When Jha was requested by G Force Head Coach Gopal Jasapara to address the boys, what followed was an inspiring speech from him where he egged everyone to believe in themselves and work on their skills. In his speech he also conveyed an important message that a successful team is not about the coach but the players who carve out success.

 

“I have players like our skipper Jiwanjot Singh, who has captained India A, Aditya Tare, who plays for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, Swapnil Singh, who plays for Lucknow Super Giants, Akash Madhwal, who represents Mumbai Indians and Rajan Kumar who is part of Royal Challengers Bangalore. All of them create a winning mindset among everyone and that gets transferred to the local players in the team. One can feel the positive vibes in our dressing room and the trust they have on each other. The huge support from Uttarakhand Cricket Association, especially the secretary Mr Mahim Verma goes a long way too,” said Jha.

 

It is no surprise that Uttarakhand is creating waves in Ranji Trophy now and it would come as no surprise should they emerge as champions of the Ranji Trophy this year.