At the end of the last domestic season, it was feared Hrishikesh Kanitkar, one of the most prolific batsmen and leader, would be remembered only for his match-winning last-ball boundary off Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq in the Independence Cup final in Dhaka way back in 1998.
Kanitkar, who parted ways with his home team Maharashtra after 2007-08, had failed to notch a century for three seasons and also narrowly failed to help Madhya Pradesh, his adopted team, progress from Plate to Super League.
Then, just after the Pune southpaw finished the Level A course at the National Cricket Academy, he was approached by the Rajasthan Cricket Asociation. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Kanitkar led Rajasthan's surge from the bottom-placed Plate team to Ranji Trophy champions, thus becoming probably the only captain to have lifted the Plate (for Maharashtra in 2003-04) and Super League title.
"When we beat Maharashtra in the Plate semifinals, we had achieved our objective of making Super League. Anything after that was a bonus for us," Kanitkar, 36, told Hindustan Times. Then came the quarterfinal against Mumbai, the 39-times champions against whom Kanitkar's mettle was tested time and again during his stint with Maharashtra.
"Mumbai is a tremendously strong team, so I told the boys the result should not matter, just play to your potential. When we got the first innings lead, I realised that wasn't enough. Mumbai can come back anytime," Kanitkar said. "I have seen it throughout my career because they play a lot of games like this, where they are challenged."
{{/usCountry}}"Mumbai is a tremendously strong team, so I told the boys the result should not matter, just play to your potential. When we got the first innings lead, I realised that wasn't enough. Mumbai can come back anytime," Kanitkar said. "I have seen it throughout my career because they play a lot of games like this, where they are challenged."
{{/usCountry}}Kanitkar has not only shed the tag of having reached the fag end of his career but also stamped his authority as a leader. "I've always been approachable. When someone needed my advice I was open to go to him directly and tell him. I was not bothered whether he accepted it or not."
Probably that's why he decided to try his hand at coaching, first with a course at the NCA and then joining the Kochi IPL team as the player-cum-assistant coach.