India cricketer Rishabh Pant has come out and posted a condolence message for his coach Tarak Sinha who had passed away yesterday in Delhi. One of the stalwarts of Delhi coaching circle, he groomed a number of popular cricketers in the national capital, including Aakash Chopra, Ashish Nehra and Rishabh Pant. In a heartfelt post, the 23-year-old said that the departed soul will always walk with him on the field wherever he might be today.
“My mentor, coach, motivator, my biggest critic and my greatest fan. You took care of me like your son, I am devastated. You will always be with me whenever I walk out onto the field. My heartfelt condolences & prayers. May your soul rest in peace, Tarak sir,” he tweeted.
My mentor, coach, motivator, my biggest critic and my greatest fan. You took care of me like your son, I am devastated.💔 You will always be with me whenever I walk out onto the field. My heartfelt condolences & prayers. May your soul rest in peace, Tarak sir. 🕊️🙏 pic.twitter.com/kLE7qlKMXK— Rishabh Pant (@RishabhPant17) November 6, 2021
Any student who would turn up for training during his annual school or college exams would be sent back immediately and not allowed to practice till exams are over. Sinha knew that not all of them would go on to become a Dhawan, Pant or Nehra and academics would give them a Plan B.
A case in point is Pant, who was accompanied by his mother and spotted by Sinha’s assistant Devender, who was then coaching in Rajasthan. Sinha told him to watch the “boy" for a couple of weeks before he came back.
Pant’s story of staying at Gurdwara (which he did on a couple of occasions) became a myth but it was Sinha, who arranged for Pant’s education in a Delhi school, from where he gave his 10th and 12th board exams. He also arranged for a rented accommodation where he could stay as he pursued his cricketing ambition.
Once during an interview with PTI, Pant’s emotional answers struck a chord. “Tarak sir is not like a father figure. He is a father to me," Pant had said. He was supremely proud of what Pant has achieved in his international career so far but he would never express it. Another story is about a middle-aged man arriving with his teenager son at the Venky’s nets.
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