The story so far: Ankita’s dream of playing cricket is coming true, as Aniket suggests a coach who will prepare her for the trials.
“Hey! wake up, lazybones. It is 5.45 already. You will be late for practice,” Aniket said, shaking his twin. But Ankita begged for a few more minutes and went back to sleep. Finally he succeeded in waking her and she reached Geetha’s school 15 minutes late. “Hi Ankita! Meet my cousins Ajay and Ramu. They will help us practice,” said Geetha, waving at two younger boys.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
A few minutes later, Ankita took her position to bat, feeling like a T20 opener. Geetha came charging in and Ankita leapt back with a squeal, as the ball came at her. This was going to be tougher than she had thought.
“Ankita, we are not practising long jump in reverse. Why did you move away?”
Ankita walked up to Geetha and said, “Take it easy, coach. The only cricket I have been playing is with a bunch of novices.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Geetha nodded and walked back. This time, the ball was a lot slower and Ankita managed to defend it. “There should not be any gap between the bat and the pad,” Geetha said. Ankita tried correcting the error, but didn’t quite succeed.
The practice continued for sometime after which Ankita gave up. “Not any more, Geetha, I am tired.”
“Ok. But, from tomorrow, I want you to be bang on time.” Geetha replied.
Ankita slowly got into the rhythm, as far as punctuality and focus were concerned. She even learned to correct her posture and play with a straight bat, but continued to make crucial mistakes.
Impulsive and rash
“Ankita, don’t play premeditated strokes, judge each ball and play according to its merit,” Geetha kept telling her. She would try her best to follow these instructions but, because of her impulsiveness, end up making an error.
“You have to curb your rashness or else you will continue to make stupid blunders,” Geetha advised her, as she patiently took her through the basics. Ankita couldn’t help but admire her coach’s patience and perseverance. “My coach, Rajan sir, says that temperament sometimes is more important than talent. He gives examples of quite a few cricketers who had enormous talent, but fell by the wayside because of their poor temperament.”
Aniket played the role of a cheerleader to perfection. While he had no doubts about Geetha’s ability to mentor, he was sceptical about Ankita’s ability to be patient. Would she be able to hang on or would she would soon give up?
To be continued