Behind Shashank Singh’s IPL success: A student who stepped up to keep his late coach’s academy running, a bit of Mumbai’s Khadoos and street-smart batting

It was late last year that Shashank Singh received the soul-crushing news from Mumbai. Vidya Paradkar, a prominent maidan coach who mentored the likes of Zaheer Khan and Ajinkya Rahane, and took Shashank under his wings, was no more. At the other end of the line was Paradkar’s widow, Pramila.

“I told him that I’ll be taking over the academy because sir had wished that it keeps running,” she tells The Indian Express. The response from the former pupil was a short one. “I’m coming to Mumbai. We’ll talk about it.”

What followed took the 67-year-old Pramila by surprise. “He came here to play at the DY Patil (Stadium) in November. ‘Mai handle karta hu. Aap chinta mat karo’ (I’ll handle the academy, so you don’t worry). Whenever he gets the chance, he comes to Mumbai and is here teaching the kids. ”

This was before Shashank had been signed by the Punjab Kings in the IPL auction.

There were doubts about the IPL future of the 32-year-old. In 10 outings for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2022, he had 69 runs. With clean hitting, match-winning knocks and a calm head while in the middle — the latest example being his unbeaten 68 off 28 in a world record chase against KKR — Shashank had found a second wind.

.@PunjabKingsIPL are roaring again 🦁

A special victory at the Eden Gardens for #PBKS who secure the highest successful run chase in the IPL and T20s ❤️

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/T9DxmbgIWu#TATAIPL | #KKRvPBKS pic.twitter.com/FNxVD8ZeW6

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 26, 2024

An emotional Pramila wishes her husband was alive to witness Shashank’s success. “He played really well. Everyone was saying, ‘Sir hote toh bahot khush hojate iski batting dekhke’. (If sir was alive, he would have been very happy.”

Shashank, like thousands of budding cricketers, moved to Mumbai hoping to make it big. This was after he made it to the age-group teams of Madhya Pradesh when his IPS officer father was posted in Jabalpur.

Pramila, who wasn’t as involved in the day-to-day operations of the academy as she is now, recollects the early impressions about the boy. “He started training with sir in front of me. His father had brought him here. The first observation from sir was, ‘He’s a down to earth boy, who wants to put in the hard yards’.”

Mumbai connection

Is Shashank a Mumbai Khadoos? “Definitely,” says Pramila. Of the many connotations of the most overused cricket adjective the city has, she is talking about grit in this context.

Pramila believes the fierce competition in Mumbai played a big role in molding Shashank into the batsman he is today. He shared the dressing room with the likes of Abhishek Nayar, Shivam Dube and Suryakumar Yadav.

While it was that fierce competition which eventually forced him to return to play for his birth state, Shashank’s batting boasts the street-smartness that is associated with Mumbai cricket.

Rewatch his knock during the record-breaking chase against KKR on Friday night. The ease with which Shashank carved maximums behind the square on either side, especially the scoop shot he rammed off Chameera over fine leg, reminds of a certain 360 degree batter he has played with in Mumbai. From his use of the crease to get in line of the delivery to the softest of touches, using the pace of the ball in the execution. There’s no rushing into the strokes.

Then there’s the match IQ. In a T20 game that saw runs in excess of 500, Shashank’s 28-ball-innings — laced with eight sixes — wasn’t a blind slam-bam innings.

Sunil Narine, who boasted an economy rate of six on a run-heavy night, still had nine balls left in his quota. But even with a fair share of the chasing left to do and Punjab’s infamous past of losing the plot late, Shashank decided to pick and choose his moments. “I was happy to take the singles and doubles off him. I wanted to play him out and target the other bowlers.”

And target the other bowlers he did.

Varun Chakravarthy was slog swept and pulled for back-to-back sixes. Chameera’s nightmarish outing was made even worse with the three sixes he carved in the 17th over. And in the next over, fast bowler Harshit Rana, who timed his slower ones better than most KKR bowlers, was dealt with as many maximums.

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All this as Jonny Bairstow, who shouldered the chase in the first half of the innings, watched from the other end. “A big positive when Jonny supports you. He has played 100 Test matches and to see him clap for you, you’ll feel happy and vindicated,” Shashank would say. He is currently the highest run-getter for Punjab this season.

His late coach must be smiling from up above.

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