When Paras Mhambrey was brought to the nets of legendary coach Ramakant Achrekar, the Dronacharya of cricket just handed the ball to the teenager and told him to bowl. There began the cricketing journey of a young Paras, who was taking to cricket relatively late that after completing his academics till 10th Standard! Facing his share of ups and downs in the process, the Goan-origin former Test cricketer-turned-coach scaled the peak of success this year as Team India’s bowling coach with T20 World Cup 2024 triumph.
Mumbai boasts of a strong School Cricket circuit and it is a fact that most of the big names have been making their first impression in the grassroots competitions before capturing the imagination of the cricketing world. However, Paras was devoid of School Cricket experience and when he was asked to bowl in the nets by one of the greatest Indian coaches; the courageous teenager stuck to the task and delivered ball after ball for at least three hours till the end of the nets session.
“All this while I was bowling, I thought sir will tell me to stop now or after some time. However, sir did not do that. As such with three hours of bowling and that too without any cricketing background, exhaustion sets in. That is when, sir told me to join his nets from tomorrow. May be, that was his way to test me to see whether I had the interest, grit and ambition to pursue cricket,” stated Paras during the unveiling ceremony of the Memorial (in Mumbai) for late coach Ramakant Achrekar, who died in 2019.
“I think he had a different way (of looking at things)…and for me as a coach, I look to follow some principles unknowingly, certain nuances that I have learnt from sir,” explained Paras, who hailed Achrekar sir as “selfless” as he never asked for fees from his students.
Meanwhile, Paras had recently visited Goa for the annual fair at Mhambrey families’ Kuldevi ‘Vhodli Vanadevi’ at Mulgaon-Bicholim. The 52-year-old, who has now taken up the role as the bowling coach of Mumbai Indians following the end of his acclaimed stint with Team India, was felicitated by the ‘Mhajans’ of the temple.
