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[caught and bowled]

Summers in England, and a life away from the spotlight
Devendra PandeyPosted online: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 0000 hrs Print  EmailWhy Arif Sunasara, Mumbai’s Best Junior Cricketer three years ago, has to spend time at his father’s restaurant
Mumbai, June 18: Three years ago he was named Best Junior Cricketer in the city. Today Arif Sunasara spends most of his time at his father’s Irani restaurant in Sion taking stock of the day’s collection.

In between, when the tables are empty, he throws a longing glance at the television if he spots the likes of Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, RP Singh and Piyush Chawla — players who he once shared the dressing room with when he was part of the India under-19 squad.

Sunasara’s crease-to-cash-counter journey is about a shattered dream, a chronicle of the dangers of summer stints in England where modest cricketers join the rat race to play for amateur clubs. Sunsara is enjoying Mumbai’s first monsoon showers today, but there was a time when he spent the mid-months in the cooler climes of England.

He did make some money, but the poor standard of the club games in minor English Counties saw the young all-rounder lose his rhythm.

Sunasara’s school coach Rizvi agrees. “He wasted his talent by going to England. Six months he used to stay in England, and by the time he returned, most of the big local tournaments were over. It was lose-lose for him.”

Former Test opener Sudhir Naik says: “There are several players from the city who spoiled their game on the England stint. There is hardly any competitive cricket there and mostly they get games against retired players or part-timers. At times they have double up as groundstaff. Besides, food is a problem and even the living conditions are horrible,” he says.

“I advise my students to do fitness training during off-season rather then play meaningless cricket in England.”

Before his England stint, Sunsara was seen as a quality left-arm spinner and a handy batsman who represented Mumbai in the under-14, U-15, U-17 and U-19 teams. He was picked for the India U-19 team, but the presence of seasoned campaigners like Sairaj Bahutule, Rajesh Pawar, Nilesh Kulkarni and Ramesh Powar in the Ranji squad meant Sunasara couldn’t take the next big step.

Today the 21-year-old dusts a thick yellowing file of newspaper clippings to show various items dedicated to the potential star. “No use for all this now. These can’t get me a job or any recognition ,” he says.

What happened? “I didn’t get proper guidance at the right time. There were ten people giving me different advice and that sort of confused me. Someone told me to spend my summers in England, saying how I will make good money there and at the time improve my game. But that was not be,” he says.

Dinesh Nanavati, the coach who had the youngster under his wings when he played for Mumbai under-19, is pleasantly surprised at the mention of his name. “Where is that boy?” he asks. “He won lots of matches for us. He was very talented and I think he was made for the big league.”

Harshad Bhojnaik, who was Arif’s teammate in the Mumbai U-19 team, recalls, “I remember we were playing Baroda and Arif was to sit out. Irfan Pathan was in the rival team and I heard him say ‘Arifbhai nahi hai, toh tension nahi’.”

Sunasara is still hopeful for a comeback and that’s the reason he occasionally goes for a net session. It’s going to be another wait.