Breathtaking Stuff: Mumbai’s Siddhesh Lad plays a shot during his unbeaten 80-run knock against Railways on Day One of their Group A Ranji Trophy match in New Delhi. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)
“I’m a little confused today as my loyalties are divided…I don’t know how to react,” quips Dinesh Lad while sipping milky chai from a paper cup. It’s the first day of Ranji season, and Dinesh is watching his son Siddhesh mount yet another stellar rescue act with good friend Suryakumar Yadav for Mumbai against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium. But Dinesh, who is employed with the Western Railways, is here at Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) secretary Rekha Yadav’s behest as the team’s observer. “I’m employed with the Western Railways, and Rekhaji asked me to come over and watch the team play and basically keep an eye on some of the upcoming players.While I’m happy to see my son play, I’m disappointed with the way things have panned out for the Railways,” he explains.
For a better part of the morning session, the home side had put Mumbai under strife. Led by Anureet Singh, whose 10-over burst before the lunch interval gnawed through the domestic giant’s top-order. The resilient Railways bowling is not the only thing Siddhesh had to contend with when he walked out to join Suryakumar.
The heavy atmosphere propagated by the poor air quality in the national capital was playing on his mind. In the lead-up to this game, he had seen his team-mate, Tushar Deshpande, throwing up and suffering from headache and fever, all of which pointed to Delhi’s toxic air. Siddhesh decided not to take any chances. For a better part of the knock today, he was seen wearing a mask.
With Suryakumar at other end, he took Mumbai to safer pastures with a commanding 129-run stand for the fifth wicket. At one stage, Suryakumar looked poised for a three-figure score, before a rare moment of indiscretion ended his vigil on 83. But Siddhesh continued to prosper, scoring at a comfortable pace on an easy-paced Karnail Singh track. Following Suryakumar’s departure, he stitched an unbeaten 48-run stand with Shivam Dubey to take Mumbai’s total to 278/5 in 80 overs. Siddhesh remained unbeaten on 80 when play was called off on the opening day due to bad light. Many like Dinesh, who have been following the Mumbai team in the recent past, were not particularly surprised by this all-too-familiar rescue act.
A fortnight ago, in a tense Vijay Hazare Trophy final against Delhi, Siddhesh was in the thick of action, forging another match-winning partnership, this time with Aditya Tare, to help them clinch their first List-A title in 12 years. Another innings that comes to mind is his marathon 5-hour vigil in a Ranji Trophy game against Baroda last season, where he etched out an unbeaten 71 off 238 balls to help Mumbai register a draw. Not surprisingly, the moniker ‘crisis manger’ has stayed with him considering the ridiculous ease with which Siddhesh continues to fashion such rescue acts across formats. Suryakumar believes it’s the confidence in abilities that helps him cross the line when he has the backs to the wall,while Dinesh attributes it to his ice-cool demeanour.
Mumbai’s Vivekandanda International School was where Siddhesh took tentative steps into cricket.“I was the coach of the school, and got him enrolled when he was barely 6,” Dinesh says. Here, he would meet Rohit Sharma, and they would forge an everlasting bond on and off the field. “Rohit was five years his senior. But he has helped him in rising through the ranks in first-class cricket,” he adds.
However, it was under Pravin Amre’s tutelage in Shivaji Park and those rides in those crowed local trains from Borivali that went a long way in shaping him as a cricketer. As Dinesh puts it: “He put in the hard yards during childhood. He would be practicing at my academy in the morning, and then would board the local train from Borivali to Shivaji Park to train under Amre in the afternoons,” he explains.
Even though it sounds a tad cliche, Dinesh has an advice for the Railways bowlers on how to dismantle his son. “The pitch is pretty flat, and when the batsman is in such form, all you can do is to be more disciplined in your lines and lengths,” Dinesh adds.
Brief scores: Mumbai 1st Innings 278/5 (Siddhesh Lad 80 batting, Surykumar Yadav 83, Anureet Singh 3/55 in 22 overs) vs Railways