|
Badri Attavar is a compact
little batsman, with the natural grace of a lefthander. As his team coach some
years ago, I was always impressed by his natural ability, but also frustrated by
his inconsistency. One of the nicest young men in our team, he invariably
listened with due respect every time I harangued him on the need to focus, to
build an innings, avoiding the flashy and flamboyant. Once he was at the middle,
however, he tended to forget all the advice his teammates and I gave him, often
throwing his wicket away after doing all the hard work.
I was delighted therefore to
learn from the newspapers that Badri had started the current season in style,
scoring successive hundreds in the first two matches. When I mentioned this to a
couple of friends of mine at lunch the other day, both of them expressed their
admiration for Badri’s “comeback” after what they described as a
horrendous road accident a couple of years ago. Returning home late one night,
he had apparently fallen asleep at the driving wheel and crashed into a bus. The
car ended up under the bus, crushed beyond repair.
Badri’s injuries had been
reduced by the fact he had fastened his seatbelt, but they were bad enough. His
face had been smashed and completely rearranged, and his features now look very
different from before the accident. The total extent of the injuries had been so
alarming that no one expected Badri to return to normal, leave alone play
cricket again.
I have not met Badri in a long
while, but I can imagine the steely resolve with which he has fought back. I
know of at least one other cricketer who had his facial features altered in an
accident. He too came back to cricket and even performed reasonably well, but he
was never the same person again, exhibiting none of the character he had
displayed in his career before the accident.
In the young lefthander’s
case, adversity seems to have brought out the best in him. Going by the form he
has shown so far this season, he seems destined for greater things. With the
exemplary courage it must have taken for him to get back into shape for the
stern battle of competitive cricket, Badri Attavar will deserve every bit of
good fortune that comes his way.
V Ramnarayan
wordcraft@vsnl.com
|
Profile in courage
