Schooling Mumbai's cricket heroes

IF TENDULKAR AND KAMBLI HAD PUT SHARADASHRAM ON THE INDIAN CRICKET MAP, ROHIT AND SHARDUL THAKUR HAVE ENSURED THEIR SCHOOL, SVIS, GORAI, ALSO MERITS A PRESENCE THERE

- Sanjjeev K Samyal

When the school team provides the early platform to make your mark, naturally it also becomes famous when the player makes it big. Thats how everyone first heard about Mahendra Singh Dhoni's school -- DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir School Shyamali, Ranchi.

In Mumbai, around the late 1980s, when Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli were making waves and breaking through to the top level, their alma mater, Sharadashram Vidyamandir School in Dadar, was flooded with admission requests from budding cricketers. Everyone wanted to be coached by Tendulkar's school coach, the late Ramakant Achrekar.

In his nets at Kamat Memorial plot at Shivaji Park, young cricketers from various parts of the country would arrive to take cricketing lessons.

It wasn't very different for Anjuman-I-Islam either. From Salim Durrani to Ghulam Parkar and Wasim Jaffer, this was a school that produced cricketing talent by the hatfulls. Among the current stars, Yashasvi Jaiswal is a shining example.

Mumbai's famed school cricket tales finds another chapter after the success of Rohit Sharma, product of Swami Vivekanand International School (SVIS). If Tendulkar and Kambli had put Sharadashram on the Indian cricket map, Rohit and Shardul Thakur have ensured their school, SVIS, Gorai, also merits a presence there. Of course, the folklore of Sharadasharam and coach Achrekar remains second to none.

Interestingly, Rohit's school coach, Dinesh Lad, also began his cricket journey under Achrekar Sir at Shivaji Park. Following in his guru's footsteps, he was the first coach from Mumbai after Achrekar to be awarded the Dronacharya Award (2022).