After nearly a decade of relentless toil on the domestic circuit, the IPL helped Rajat Bhatia finally get the acknowledgment he deserved – as a wily operator who confounded batsmen with variation and control
Abhishek Purohit25-Sep-2011Rajat Bhatia has bowled almost 6000 deliveries in first-class cricket,running in relentlessly under the hot Delhi sun and getting enough out ofthe unyielding Feroz Shah Kotla surface to keep his average below 30. Hethen found the energy and the patience to make almost 4000 first-classruns – most of them when his side really needed them – at an average inthe high-forties. Yet he was hardly known outside India’s domestic circuitfor almost a decade after making his debut.And then the IPL happened. Four overs a game of accurate slow-mediumbowling did what nine years of steady toil could not. Suddenly, Bhatia wasbeing acknowledged as a wily operator who confounded batsmen withvariation and control over a range of slower ones, legcutters andoffcutters, all delivered with the same earnest and honest expression.He displays the same honesty when he acknowledges that his ego as a bowleris about as snarling as his pace is. Which is not much. “I know mylimitations. I had started as a bowler at the MRF Pace Foundation. I wastold I could never become a pace bowler,” he says, his spectacles makinghim look like a serious professor. “I have no issues with thewicketkeeper standing up to me. Some bowlers think that the ‘keeper shouldbe standing back to them. In fact, now I am more comfortable with the’keeper standing up.”It is not the lack of pace but Bhatia’s remarkable command over hisrepertoire that troubles batsmen. In IPL 2009, DeccanChargers needed 25 of 18 balls with six wickets remaining and AndrewSymonds going after everything. Bhatia trotted in nervelessly and fooledSymonds with a slower one. An offcutter here and a legcutter therefollowed. Deccan collapsed to lose by 12 runs.Bhatia credits the hard hours put in bowling on featherbeds for hiscompany, Air India, for the control that he now possesses. “We play a loton small grounds, and on wickets that are too placid. The batsmen justhave to plonk the front foot out and run.”When I started playing in the IPL, I saw that batsmen were practisingusing the bowling machine. I realised that if I bowled at the same pace,then it would be easy for batsmen to hit me. I have always bowled theslower one but over time I have developed it. I have moulded myself forthe IPL.”We are sitting in the lobby of the Kolkata Knight Riders team hotel inHyderabad where they are playing in the Champions League Twenty20. YusufPathan walks by, with a gentle nod and a handshake with Bhatia. Quiteclearly, the IPL means a lot to Bhatia seeing the belated recognition thathe has received because of it. He even compares it to playing for India.”The IPL as a platform is as big and as full of pressure as when you areplaying for the country. Your franchise does so much for you; all thefacilities, the media attention. You play with people who are the stars oftheir countries. Performing is down to absorbing the pressure. Like in ourmatch against Auckland, we had to be consistent enough to defend 122. Youhave to show to your franchise that you are doing your role well.”Despite all the glitter and glory that the IPL has given him, however,Bhatia says that his biggest achievement will remain winning the RanjiTrophy in 2007-08 for Delhi. “My feelings on winning the Ranji Trophy weresomething completely different. Even today when all of us – I, Gautam[Gambhir], our coach Vijay Dahiya – talk about it, I get a tinglingfeeling. We remember everything about that match. There are sides likeMumbai that win the Ranji Trophy almost every second or third year. We wonafter a long time and I know the value that it has. Delhi is veryimportant for me as it is my home. If I don’t do well for some time, Iknow that Delhi will support me.Bhatia knows that the two formats he has excelled in have clashed a lot,and he is clear about which is the more important one. “I believe thatfirst-class cricket is first-class cricket after all. T20 is a bigplatform but we should not neglect first-class because of it. People’sattitudes have changed towards it. Now players look to be fitduring the IPL season rather than during the first-class season.”It is up to the seniors to guide youngsters and ensure they playmore first-class cricket. It should not happen that a boy hasn’t playedfirst-class and is straightaway playing the IPL. Playing first-class ismuch more important than playing IPL.”Obviously, Bhatia regrets having never got a chance to play for thecountry, even when he averaged 48.14 with the bat and 12.47 with the ball,scoring 674 runs and taking 34 wickets in Delhi’s triumphant season. Hewas 28 then, a factor that he believes should not have gone against him.
It is up to the seniors to guide youngsters and ensure they play more first-class cricket. It should not happen that a boy hasn’t played first-class and is straightaway playing the IPL. Playing first-class is much more important than playing IPL
“I believe that if I had got the chance then I could have done well. Butit never came. I was sent with an Emerging Players side on a tour toIsrael which had no value. I was never called to the National CricketAcademy for a camp. I was just called for two days as the team was goingto Israel. It was an embarrassing feeling and after that I accepted thatit was not necessary that every performing player would play for India.”Rather than looking at your performance, how old you were was beinglooked at. I think if you are performing consistently at the domesticlevel then you are ready for the next level.”He must have cringed as he saw a galaxy of Under-19 players break into thenational side like a bunch of shooting stars, some of them makingprecisely that kind of short impact. He says that rampant pushing ofinexperienced players into the national side has led to the India capbecoming devalued.”If you look at U-19 players who are fast-tracked, you will find a fewgood players but many players’ future has been ruined. There are many whogot a chance early but no one knows where they are today. This is wherethe Australian system is different. If you look at their internationalplayers’ domestic record, it is outstanding. They are so mature when theycome in to the Australia side and we will have to learn from them that agedoes not matter, performance does.”Everybody is not like Virat Kohli, who has done well at U-19 level andhas also settled in to the India side. I think the India cap should not behanded out on the basis of one or two outstanding performances. SunilGavaskar has said this and I agree that if you are getting the India capso easily, then it loses its value.”What Bhatia hasn’t lost though is his discipline and commitment despitebeing totally ignored, despite there being moments when he has questionedhimself. “If you have played Ranji Trophy for so long, moments like thesehappen so many times that you become used to them. Then you learn tosideline them and say, ‘its ok, I am enjoying my game, getting a chance isnot in my hand’. If something is not in your control and you keep cribbingabout it, then it will create problems only for you.”The first thing about domestic cricket is that you will have to remainself-motivated. The day you stop enjoying the game, your performance willdrop. I haven’t played for the country but at whatever level you areplaying – company, club, state or IPL – you have a role to perform as aprofessional and you have got to do it.”Still, actually toiling for hours and hours with the knowledge that youhave hit a dead-end must seem maddeningly futile. Bhatia shrugs knowingly.”Maybe I have always taken the game with the sense that I can get annoyedwith it sometimes, but never go away from it,” he says.