Hiralal Gaikwad- Where are they now?

”With the conditions changing by the hour, a player has to really exert and adapt himself to succeed. There in lay the distinction between a good cricketer and a great one.”

He retired from first class cricket with over 4,000 runs and 400 wickets to his name, including 1980 runs in Ranji Trophy alone (two centuries, eight half centuries) and 278 wickets (five or more wickets 13 times, 10 or more wickets four times).

Mention the phrase ‘Coaching the young’ and Gaikwad becomes visibly irked. ”Frankly, the word ‘coaching’ does not exist in my dictionary. Who coached Col Nayudu? Or Gavaskar? Nobody. One has to learn all by himself-by observation, from experience and from one’s own mistakes. Seniors can only give a few tips, but to expect an expert to emerge out of coaching is absurd.”

Gaikwad’s views on professionalism and commercialisation of cricket are refreshingly different. ”If one is able to make a comfortable living out of cricket, what is wrong with it? After devoting so much time, energy, money to the game, expecting some thing in return is justified,” he says. ”Let’s face it. Only adulation and applause are not enough to fill ones stomach,” again, pitching it right at the block hole, like he had done so many times in the past.