Paras Mhambrey is a busy man once the Mumbai Indians turn out at the Wankhede Stadium for training and practice sessions. The 39-year-old former Mumbai seamer learnt aplenty from Frank ‘Typhoon' Tyson, a primary reason for him to have built a reputation as a coach.
Since January 2009 he has been with Mumbai Indians, after a two-year stint with the Bengal Ranji Trophy team and a three-year employment with the Baroda Cricket Association as Director of Coaching which covered the senior team and all junior age groups.
Mhambrey played two Tests on the 1996 tour of England, figured in the Lord's Test in which Sourav Ganguly scored 131 on debut and Rahul Dravid made 95 and picked up the wickets of Michael Atherton and Ronny Irani. He played 91 first class matches and took 284 wickets. He agreed that cricket has always remained a batsman's game, be it Test, one-day or Twenty20.
“People would rather like to see Sachin Tendulkar score a century than Glen McGrath take seven wickets. Yes, it's always been challenging to the bowlers, but I enjoy the challenge as a coach. Whereas a coach gets a year to work with a team playing in the Ranji Trophy, it gets condensed to two months, actually 10 or 15 days before the start of the tournament. The bowlers try so many variations (in the course of four overs), experiment and if they are successful they take their variations to one-day cricket as well as Test cricket,'' said Mhambrey.
Mumbai Indians have a mentor and bowling coach in Shaun Pollock.
“Shaun does most of it with the international bowlers, I assist him working with the young seamers in the team. Most of them are set actually, having played a lot of cricket, so the interaction is generally on understanding the game, match situations and strategy and so on.
“The thinking process is always on; it's more mental. Every move in relation is monitored and scrutinised. Overall, it's been a good experience working for a franchise. MI doesn't see it as a business alone, there's lot of cricket development and the aim is to get the best out of a player and team.
“Players come from different backgrounds and then there is Sachin Tendulkar and Lasith Malinga; it's an organisational challenge as well,'' Mhambrey trailed off.
