Hello people! On this episode of #BlabWithSandy, we have Indian cricketer Priyank Panchal with us. Priyank Panchal was the captain of Gujarat team and he had also led India-A. Priyank has been a prolific run getter in the domestic circuit and had been a part of the Indian test team setup for quite a long time. Priyank became the first player to score a triple century for Gujarat and he also became the first player for Gujarat to score 1,000 runs in a single season of Ranji trophy.
Priyank recently announced his international retirement from cricket. Let’s wait no further and dive into the exciting blab I had with him:
Sandy: Hello Priyank! It’s feels good to connect with you. How are you doing?
Priyank: All good, Sandy! Thank you.
Sandy: When and how did the cricket bug hit you ?
Priyank: The cricket bug, I feel, bites everyone born in this country. So I cannot place a ‘when’.
As to how, maybe the answer is the 2003 Cricket World Cup. We came so close to winning that title, with The Master scoring 673 runs and becoming the player of the series. When talking about Michael Jordan, the great American essayist Joseph Epstein once wrote ‘In him we had the reincarnation of Achilles, but without the sulking and without the heel’. That is how I feel about Sachin sir as well.
I also of course remember Shoaib Akhtar bowling that 100 miles/hour ball, Ponting’s 140, and Adam Gilchrist walking out in the semi-final against Sri Lanka. That latter act has always stood out in my mind as being emblematic of the honour inherent in cricket.
When I made my first cricketing appearance for the Under 15s in the 2003–04 Polly Umrigar Trophy, the desire to emulate Sachin and Ponting sir was definitely on the back of my mind.
Sandy: You have been a prolific run-getter for Gujarat for over a decade. Not many have had scored so many runs for such a long time. What do you think are the major factors that contributed in making you such an impeccable cricketer?
Priyank: One of the greatest players to walk the Earth, Jacques Kallis, once said about cricket that ‘It is just a game – and a very simple game if you keep your mind straight’.
I scored all those runs consistently because I simplified my gameplay. Of course one needs to refine one’s technique over the years, but it happens naturally, just like a sculptor gets better at his job the more sculptures he makes.
Sandy: You were a part of India A team, as a player as well as a captain. You were also a part of the Indian test setup for quite sometime. How easy or how difficult has the experience been in knowing that you would play for India someday (after all the runs that you scored for many seasons) but, eventually the final part of representing India not happening? As the saying goes, ‘so near yet so far’.
Priyank: The screenwriter and author John Fante, who wrote one of my favourite novels ‘Ask The Dust’, was 69 years old when he became a resident of the Motion Picture and Television Hospital. He was blind. Both of his legs had been amputated.
He said then, “The most horrible thing that happens to people is bitterness. They all get so bitter.” If a man in that condition could acknowledge being good and grateful to have the correct attitude towards life, I have nothing to complain about. Of course not getting to play for India is the central regret of my life, and yet I cannot dwell on it.
Behind self-pity lies an overpowering egoism, a feeling that one is quite unlike other men. There have been many great players in the domestic circuit who have never got the chance to represent India. My case is not an exception, and hence I don’t like to be overtly negative about things. I like to approach life with a positive frame of mind.
Sandy: I, myself, having represented the Vizag district and Andhra in cricket, have seen players who had the potential to represent our country at the big stage but not really getting there. You did all you could to be there and you almost reached the pinnacle. What do you think would have been the factors for you being part of the Indian test squad but not being picked the XI?
Priyank: Quite a lot of factors. The pool of talented players in India is quite large.
Everyone who has played for India have all been talented, and even if I am, I am glad they got a chance to represent India because they also pursued the sport as passionately as I did
Sandy: Your decision of retiring from the game came as a shock to many. You still had time as you were in the finest of forms that a player can ever be in! What made you take this decision? Is it because of the snub for the upcoming series or the wait was too long that you felt the curtains had to come down now?
Priyank: I eventually had to contend with the fact that I was not going to play for India. After 15 or more seasons of playing the Ranji, one just gets a gut feel. I had scored 148 against Kerala in the Ranji semi final so I am happy I signed off on a high.
Sandy: What’s a piece of advice that you’d like to give to the young cricketers out there who see you as one of their role models and who are vying to enter the bigger stage in their respective cricket careers?
Priyank: Getting to play the game is its own reward, and maybe the sole one you can vie for. Do not play because you hope to make it big through the IPL or the Indian team, because even if you are an excellent player, there is a good chance that things might just not work out.
So plan accordingly. If you are in a dire situation financially, I would not promulgate the romantic myth and ask you to stake it out all on cricket; it may be better for you to focus on your academics. You may not be able to achieve all that your friends have achieved financially via more secure jobs, but do not be crestfallen by this.
Of course there are cases like that of Varun Chakravarthy, who had a comfortable job as an architect but then left all that to try out cricket again at 25. So everyone has their own journey to undertake and I wish the absolute best to all budding cricketers for the same.
Sandy: How has your family taken to your decision of retirement? Their support would definitely make you do something fruitful for your next innings. 😊We are as much excited as one can be to keep a track of what you are going to do next.
Priyank: I discussed the decision with my mother, my wife, and my sister before declaring it, and both were supportive.
Of course there is a question of what to do next. The great German philosopher Josef Piper used to say ‘the condition of utmost exertion is more easily to be realized than the condition of relaxation and detachment, even though the latter is effortless : this is the paradox that reigns over the attainment of leisure, which is at once a human and superhuman condition’. I will look to read more books, deeply enriched by knowledge banks, and play competitive cricket in leagues to stay in touch with the game. I am also looking to establish a media vertical of my own and more details of the same will be unveiled in the coming times.
Sandy: A few words about us-TheHyderabadLocal.
Priyank: You are a very interesting platform. I have read your interviews with Amit Masurkar (who directed the very enjoyable Sulemani Keeda), and the English great Jack Russell. I do hope you interview more cricketing greats of the yesteryear, who offer an interesting perspective about life and sport from the olden days.
Editor’s note: It was really a soothing and a wonderful experience blabbing with Priyank Panchal. We wish Priyank a happy second innings!
Interview by Sandy (Sandeep Rao)
