Growing up, Jatin Paranjpe's dream was to play for Bombay. But, destiny had bigger plans for him: he was picked to play for India in One-Day Internationals in 1998.
But an ankle injury meant the left-handed batsman could play only four matches for the country. Twenty years later, he is a National selector.
Tough job
“I consider it an honour, though it is a tough job,” Paranjpe told The Hindu . “You have to travel across the country constantly and monitor the progress of several players.”
From the Wayanad Cricket Stadium, where he watched India-A taking on England Lions in the first 'Test', he will be in Mysuru to watch the second and final match of the series.
“To watch domestic matches I have been to several places like Ongole, Surat and Dindigul,” he said. “I could see that cricket has truly spread its wings far from traditional centres like Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.”
Paranjpe feels the infrastructure at venues in small cities is something he could not have imagined during his playing days.
“I think the BCCI has done a great job of taking cricket to small towns across the country,” he said. “I was pleasantly surprised to see the ground and facilities here in Wayanad, Ongole and Dindigul.”
Looking back at his career, he said he was happy with what he achieved.
“Though I was exposed to cricket from a young age, as son of Vasu Paranjpe, I hadn't dreamt of playing for India initially,” he said. “Even to break into the Bombay team at that time wasn't easy, with so many stalwarts in its batting line-up.”
He still made his mark and finished his First Class career with 3,964 runs from 62 matches at an average of 46.09 with 15 centuries. In his short international career, he had shown promise.
He scored an unbeaten 23 off as many balls to lead India to a six-wicket victory against Pakistan at Toronto in 1998.
Unfortunate
“India captain Mohammad Azharuddin had told me I would surely be playing for the next few matches,” he said.
“But, I suffered that ankle injury — very similar to the one Prithvi Shaw had recently — and was out of the team for eight months, because the injury management was poor those days.
“I could never make a comeback after that. But, that's fine; I have got an other opportunity to serve Indian cricket as a selector,” he added.
