Assam Cricket has been the talk of India house cricket circles in the past two months. However, Assam’s semi-final at the 2022 Vijay Hazare Trophy, which ended earlier this month, is not their best showing in the one-day domestic tournament. Their best result in the competition came around a decade ago when Assam were beaten in the 2012-13 season finale by national heavyweights Delhi in the coastal town of Vishakhapatnam. Interestingly, it was the Delhi maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy crown.
So why is Assam catching a lot of eyeballs these days?
They beat teams like Karnataka, Delhi and Vidarbha among others en route to the Vijay Hazare semis, and Maharashtra narrowly beat them by 12 points in the semis. In class Ranji Trophythey opened with one point against Kerala but in the second game they fought to take the first set lead against former champions Delhi for three points.
To a casual viewer, it might sound like a story of underdogs punching above their weight. But if someone with a bit more interest in domestic cricket takes a closer look, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. For that, we need to dig deeper into their success story.
A little study of the 2013 final scorecard would throw one name up Assam’s sleeves – Dheeraj Jadhav, a national stalwart from Maharashtra, who was then playing for Assam as a professional. Amol Muzumdar, S Sriram, Dheeraj and Sairaj Bahutule are some of the famous names who have represented Assam as professional players over the years.
But recent match scoreboards involving Assam won’t give you such names. Because there have been changes in the structure – as well as the policies – when it comes to Assam cricket.
After joining Assam Cricket Association (ACA) as Secretary in January 2019, Devajit Saikia led the governing body of the state to make decisions and make changes that are bearing fruit now. Now elected co-secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in October this year, Saikia explained the process they started about four years ago.
“Right after taking over, we made structural and policy changes. First, changes in infrastructure and facilities. When we came to the association, there were only two or three grass wickets suitable for playing top class matches in Assam. Now, in these four years, we have undertaken 23 plots to be developed and of these, 15 to 16 plots are now ready. Soil was brought from Odisha to prepare the tracks,” Saikia told TOI from Guwahati.
“Secondly, we have restructured the annual calendar. Previously, there was no real club cricket under ACA and the few local fixtures that were played were held simultaneously with the BCCI national schedule. And this clash of schedules has made it difficult to select the right players to represent Assam in BCCI fixtures.
“Now all 42 district units are under ACA and there is a pool of over 7000 cricketers in various age groups whose data is in the system, proper structure is in place now. APCC (Assam Premier Cricket Championship) is huge now, we give away huge amounts of money, around 1 crore in club championships and it’s all under ACA,” Saikia added.
“The local calendar starts from May and lasts all summer, so a player gets at least 15-20-30 games before the selection of probables for first class and list A teams. This also helps the selectors, they are doing their job without any interference now. Previously, they had to select based on past performance or reputation, but now everything is streamlined and simple things are put in place.
“The third major policy change is that we have stopped taking professionals since 2019. Previously, we were dependent on professionals, but now there are no longer any away players in the Assam squad. There is no no relief for home players that professionals take responsibility for scoring or taking wickets.You have to be responsible for your own destiny.So this semi-final in Vijay Hazare is a bigger achievement than the final in 2013 Saikia pointed out.
As for those directly involved in these changes on the pitch, Saikia is full of praise for the current coaching staff, especially head coach Trevor Gonsalves.
“Trevor had a huge impact on the team. He changed the mindset of the players, he contributed to this success. I have to appreciate the roles of assistant coach Subhrajit Saikia, manager coach Salil Sinha (Senior Squad), U-25 Coach Vivek Jaisimha, Ajay Ratra and Stuart Binny on this journey of Assam cricket,” said Saikia, who has often been credited as the man who changed Assam cricket over the past four years.
Ratra had been in charge of Assam’s senior team since 2019 before Gonsalves took charge this season. Binny was Ratra’s assistant for the 2021-22 season.
Subhrajit, on the other hand, was the head coach in the 2012-13 season and has been closely associated with the Assam cricket team in various capacities, sometimes with the age group teams in addition to the senior team.
The core of the Assam team has remained more or less the same over the past few years, but this same group have played as a team to defend themselves from difficult situations to emerge victorious. So there has to be some mental conditioning in addition to performance with the bat or the ball.
When it comes to increasing the mental toughness of the players, former Indian playmaker Gonsalves has certainly played a major role.
“I always tell my wards that a person’s character can be known when it is down; not when you go big guns. You have to do something extraordinary to be famous. People will only notice your performance if it’s against Delhi or Mumbai or Punjab or Karnataka. It has to be against the big names in domestic cricket, no matter who plays for them,” Gonsalves told TOI.
“I made it clear to them that your performance of Vijay Hazare does not look like a fluke. Play the ball on its merit, hit it for four or six if it needs to be hit, defend it if it needs to be defended. Don’t think you are playing Ranji Trophy or Vijay Hazare or T20. Failure gives you back, so don’t be afraid, be confident,” explained the former Vidarbha coach.
Gonsalves gave his opinion by declaring against Delhi just after taking the lead in the first moto. “Yes, it was a mental game. It gives you an advantage when your opponents think that way, that, ‘Look, they declared against Delhi!’ You get the advantage, the upper hand here by declaring innings,” Gonsalves said with a chuckle after the Delhi game.
With their efforts yielding results, Assam are looking for higher carries this season, but there is a bigger dream to be fulfilled.
With an Assam cricketer yet to take India to the next level, former ACA secretary and chief architect of this recent success, Saikia, says: “ We have the full support of BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, who has played a significant role in Assam’s success by offering all possible assistance from the board. However, our dream is to see an Assam player in the senior Indian team as soon as possible. There are three or four notable performers – Riyan Parag is the favourite, you can tell, the others are Rishav Das (drummer), Mukhtar Hussain (medium left arm stimulator) and Rajjakuddin Ahmed (all-rounder). Although Rajjakuddin is now out of the squad due to recent poor performances, all have progressed well.
So why is Assam catching a lot of eyeballs these days?
They beat teams like Karnataka, Delhi and Vidarbha among others en route to the Vijay Hazare semis, and Maharashtra narrowly beat them by 12 points in the semis. In class Ranji Trophythey opened with one point against Kerala but in the second game they fought to take the first set lead against former champions Delhi for three points.
To a casual viewer, it might sound like a story of underdogs punching above their weight. But if someone with a bit more interest in domestic cricket takes a closer look, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. For that, we need to dig deeper into their success story.
A little study of the 2013 final scorecard would throw one name up Assam’s sleeves – Dheeraj Jadhav, a national stalwart from Maharashtra, who was then playing for Assam as a professional. Amol Muzumdar, S Sriram, Dheeraj and Sairaj Bahutule are some of the famous names who have represented Assam as professional players over the years.
But recent match scoreboards involving Assam won’t give you such names. Because there have been changes in the structure – as well as the policies – when it comes to Assam cricket.
After joining Assam Cricket Association (ACA) as Secretary in January 2019, Devajit Saikia led the governing body of the state to make decisions and make changes that are bearing fruit now. Now elected co-secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in October this year, Saikia explained the process they started about four years ago.
“Right after taking over, we made structural and policy changes. First, changes in infrastructure and facilities. When we came to the association, there were only two or three grass wickets suitable for playing top class matches in Assam. Now, in these four years, we have undertaken 23 plots to be developed and of these, 15 to 16 plots are now ready. Soil was brought from Odisha to prepare the tracks,” Saikia told TOI from Guwahati.
“Secondly, we have restructured the annual calendar. Previously, there was no real club cricket under ACA and the few local fixtures that were played were held simultaneously with the BCCI national schedule. And this clash of schedules has made it difficult to select the right players to represent Assam in BCCI fixtures.
“Now all 42 district units are under ACA and there is a pool of over 7000 cricketers in various age groups whose data is in the system, proper structure is in place now. APCC (Assam Premier Cricket Championship) is huge now, we give away huge amounts of money, around 1 crore in club championships and it’s all under ACA,” Saikia added.
“The local calendar starts from May and lasts all summer, so a player gets at least 15-20-30 games before the selection of probables for first class and list A teams. This also helps the selectors, they are doing their job without any interference now. Previously, they had to select based on past performance or reputation, but now everything is streamlined and simple things are put in place.
“The third major policy change is that we have stopped taking professionals since 2019. Previously, we were dependent on professionals, but now there are no longer any away players in the Assam squad. There is no no relief for home players that professionals take responsibility for scoring or taking wickets.You have to be responsible for your own destiny.So this semi-final in Vijay Hazare is a bigger achievement than the final in 2013 Saikia pointed out.
As for those directly involved in these changes on the pitch, Saikia is full of praise for the current coaching staff, especially head coach Trevor Gonsalves.
“Trevor had a huge impact on the team. He changed the mindset of the players, he contributed to this success. I have to appreciate the roles of assistant coach Subhrajit Saikia, manager coach Salil Sinha (Senior Squad), U-25 Coach Vivek Jaisimha, Ajay Ratra and Stuart Binny on this journey of Assam cricket,” said Saikia, who has often been credited as the man who changed Assam cricket over the past four years.
Ratra had been in charge of Assam’s senior team since 2019 before Gonsalves took charge this season. Binny was Ratra’s assistant for the 2021-22 season.
Subhrajit, on the other hand, was the head coach in the 2012-13 season and has been closely associated with the Assam cricket team in various capacities, sometimes with the age group teams in addition to the senior team.
The core of the Assam team has remained more or less the same over the past few years, but this same group have played as a team to defend themselves from difficult situations to emerge victorious. So there has to be some mental conditioning in addition to performance with the bat or the ball.
When it comes to increasing the mental toughness of the players, former Indian playmaker Gonsalves has certainly played a major role.
“I always tell my wards that a person’s character can be known when it is down; not when you go big guns. You have to do something extraordinary to be famous. People will only notice your performance if it’s against Delhi or Mumbai or Punjab or Karnataka. It has to be against the big names in domestic cricket, no matter who plays for them,” Gonsalves told TOI.
“I made it clear to them that your performance of Vijay Hazare does not look like a fluke. Play the ball on its merit, hit it for four or six if it needs to be hit, defend it if it needs to be defended. Don’t think you are playing Ranji Trophy or Vijay Hazare or T20. Failure gives you back, so don’t be afraid, be confident,” explained the former Vidarbha coach.
Gonsalves gave his opinion by declaring against Delhi just after taking the lead in the first moto. “Yes, it was a mental game. It gives you an advantage when your opponents think that way, that, ‘Look, they declared against Delhi!’ You get the advantage, the upper hand here by declaring innings,” Gonsalves said with a chuckle after the Delhi game.
With their efforts yielding results, Assam are looking for higher carries this season, but there is a bigger dream to be fulfilled.
With an Assam cricketer yet to take India to the next level, former ACA secretary and chief architect of this recent success, Saikia, says: “ We have the full support of BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, who has played a significant role in Assam’s success by offering all possible assistance from the board. However, our dream is to see an Assam player in the senior Indian team as soon as possible. There are three or four notable performers – Riyan Parag is the favourite, you can tell, the others are Rishav Das (drummer), Mukhtar Hussain (medium left arm stimulator) and Rajjakuddin Ahmed (all-rounder). Although Rajjakuddin is now out of the squad due to recent poor performances, all have progressed well.
