At 32 he is a coach. Yet, Vinayak Mane could so easily have been stroking the ball to distant corners of the arena. Cricketing fortunes do hang on slender threads.
Mane remembers the moment when he fell on his left arm after tripping while throwing the ball at the Shivaji Park ground in Mumbai. His life changed after that.
The year was 2002 and at that point in time, Mane was among the most promising batsmen in India. After all, in the under-19 ‘Test’ in Chennai in 2001, the young Mumbai opener had made a rousing 201 against an England attack that included Chris Tremlett and Monty Panesar.
He was staring at a dark future. Both the bones in the left forearm were broken and after urgent surgical intervention, two metal plates and 13 screws held his arm together.
Mane willed himself to make a comeback, found success too with a sparkling century in the 2004 Ranji Trophy final in Chennai. Then the searing pain returned. “My top hand, my guiding hand, was affected. I was not able to hold the bat. I was shattered,” he said to The Hindu here; Mane had come to the city as the Mumbai coach for the Kalpathi AGS-Buchi Babu tournament.
The metal plates could no longer support the tissue and they had to be removed. Mane underwent another, rather unsuccessful, surgery in Mumbai.
“I was told at 22 that I no longer might be able to play cricket. “I was so young, I did not know what to do with my life. Cricket was everything to me,” he said.
Former India physio John Gloster stepped in to help the youngster. He arranged another surgery for Mane, this time in Melbourne in 2006. “The tissue was severely damaged but this was a last ditch attempt,” said Mane.
Among the factors that inspired him to return to the game — although he often batted under immense pain — were the two bats gifted to him by Sachin Tendulkar.
Mane sparkled on occasions but never found consistency when he was picked again for Mumbai. “Since my leading arm was affected, I was late on the ball at times, especially if it was of fuller length.”
After struggling with Mumbai and then moving to Jammu & Kashmir, he finally called it quits in 2009. The precociously-talented Mane was worth more than his 2971 runs in 57 first class matches at 34.54.
His family stood by him through the dark times, meditation kept him afloat when disappointments threatened to break his spirit, and the game provided Mane another chance in life; this time as a coach. He has now guided the Mumbai under-25 and 23 teams.
After a career dotted with injury-driven frustrations, Mane has made a fresh beginning.
