Tale of a promising UAE pacer Yug Sharma and his coach Vincent Stephen

By K.R. Nayar  

Yug Jai Sharma, who is set to spearhead the UAE pace attack in the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup Asia Qualifier in Kathmandu, Nepal, from Sunday, 13 April, is a shining example of someone who seeks opportunities to learn and works hard to apply them. Since the age of nine, this left-arm pacer has been mentored by Vincent Stephen, then the head coach of the Robin Singh Cricket Academy. While Sharma has trained under many former cricketers-turned-coaches, Stephen—now head coach at the Dunes Cricket Academy—has remained his personal coach for many years.

 

Yug Jai Sharma 

Stephen boasts an illustrious coaching career. He helped groom India’s top spinner Varun Chakravarthy and IPL player Shahbaz Nadeem during their formative years. His forte lies in teaching the fundamentals correctly. He has also nurtured talents like Jayanth Balamurugan and Ansh Tandon, both of whom went on to shine in UAE’s junior tournaments.

 

Vincent Stephen 

In my coverage of domestic matches, I have often reported on Sharma’s match-winning performances. So when he was selected for the UAE Under-16 team for the West Asia Cup, I had the opportunity to cover his standout bowling spells where he emerged as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker.

 

Yug Jai Sharma when he emerged as highest wickettaker in the West Asia Cup Under-16 event 

The unique bond between coach Stephen and his student Sharma is centered around a shared commitment to continuous improvement. Sharma has also trained under former Indian players Robin Singh and attended a masterclass by Bharat Arun. Simply Cricket Academy, founded by Sheila Razdan and Roop Razdan, played a vital role in his development as well—Stephen served as head coach.

Yug Sharma attending my media interaction session  

I feel privileged to have contributed in a small way when Simply Cricket Academy invited me to conduct a session on media interaction for their players. Sharma, along with fellow youngsters Nathan John, Rishabh Ramakrishnan, Rishab Singh, and Vian Pias, had participated in that session.

 

Just as Sharma continues to seek opportunities, so does Stephen. He has worked with Terry Jenner (Shane Warne’s coach) and assisted Indian players Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina during a Macspin Foundation training course focused on refining batting techniques. Coached along with Maninder Singh, Kanwaljit Singh, Rajesh Chavan, Raghuram Bhatt.

As a player, Stephen had captained the Tamil Nadu Under-15 team and played First Division cricket for Southern Railway. He is a certified coach from the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in India and has completed both Level 1 and Level 2 coaching courses. He also served as head coach at Sri Lanka’s Nets Cricket Academy in Colombo, where he trained Raveen De Silva, who captained Sri Lanka’s U-19 team. At Dunes, his assistant coach Hari Krishna — who has also been coaching Sharma for the past five years—had trained under the legendary coach Dav Whatmore.

 

Sharma is fortunate to come from a sports-loving family. His grandfather, the late Madan Sharma, was one of India’s top boxing coaches, having produced Olympians and Arjuna Awardees. His father, Jai Sharma, is a state and university boxing champion.

 

The takeaway from Sharma’s story is that whether you are a student or a coach, the journey of learning should never stop. One of the most important lessons Stephen has passed on to Sharma and all his students is the value of fitness and the importance of nurturing a “can-do” attitude.

 

Vincent Stephen gives physical training to youngsters in a beach 

Following is the UAE squad for the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup Asia Qualifier:

 Prithvi Madhu (captain), Akshat Rai, Aliasgar Shums, Ata ur Rahman Mangal, Ayaan Misbah, Karan Dhiman, Madhav Manoj Nair, Muhammad Ahmed, Muhammad Ismail, Rayan Khan, Shalom Dsouza, Uddish Suri, Yayin Kiran and Yug Sharma.

Support staff: Naveed Ahmed (head coach) and Zahoor Khan (assistant coach).