CHENNAI: Yash Dubey has never opened the batting in his short career of 18 first-class matches for Madhya Pradesh. That was before coach Chandrakant Pandit asked him to open against Kerala during one of their Ranji Trophy matches in March early this year.
The batter made the most of the opportunity as he hammered 289, his highest first-class score so far, to help the team declare after posting a mammoth 585/9.
Even as his returns were modest in the next two matches (quarterfinal against Punjab and semifinal against Bengal), Pandit persisted with him in the final versus heavyweights Mumbai. As the 41-time champions made a fighting 374 in their first essay, the onus was on the openers - Yash and Himanshu Mantri - to give the team a good start.
Despite the early departure of wicketkeeper-batter Himanshu, who was the player of the match in the semifinal, Yash put his head down at one end and started consolidating with Shubham Sharma on Day 2.
The duo, who hit a century each, stitched together a 222-run partnership across two days and 73.1 overs to put MP in the driver's seat. The Pandit-coached side ended the day at 368/3 with the in-form Rajat Patidar (67) and skipper Aditya Shrivastava (11) at the crease.
The 23-year-old Yash might have impressed all and sundry with his gritty 336-ball 133 but there was a time early in his career when doubts were cast on his abilities as a batter. The reason? Yash used to wear spectacles.
"He had joined my cricket academy in Bhopal when he was around eight or nine. A couple of years later, an eye specialist asked him to start wearing specs as he was facing problems while reading," Shailesh Shukla, Yash's childhood coach, told The New Indian Express.
The cricketer's father, RK Dubey, also echoed the same sentiment. "It was not a big issue but we went by the doctor's advice as we didn't want his eyesight to weaken further," the father said.
Coach Shukla informed that selectors used to get skeptical after seeing the bespectacled Yash at such a young age. "It was difficult to convince them as eyesight is considered the biggest strength of a batter. Even when he moved to Hoshangabad (now Narmadapuram), a district adjoining Bhopal, in search of better opportunities, the flawed perception continued to haunt him. But he never gave up and continued to work hard. As he progressed as a cricketer, he started using contact lenses thus successfully avoiding cynical eyes," added the coach.
Speaking on his new role as an opener, the coach asserted, "It's better late than never. I always wanted him to open but that's not easy when you are new in the set-up. Now he has proved his mettle, I hope he continues in that role for a longer period," he said.
Sanjeev Rao, secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), also threw light on how the coach zeroed on Yash in the role. "We had openers but the coach was not satisfied with their performances. Having seen Yash's exploits while facing the new balls during training, the coach decided to try him as an opener, and the move paid off immediately in the clash against Kerala where he scored a double century," said Rao.
Yash might have got a peach of a delivery from Mumbai’s left-arm spinner Shams Mulani that ended his stay at the crease but Shubham and he had already given a solid foundation to build on the lead and bat Mumbai out of the game to help them claim their first Ranji title.
And Rajat was doing exactly the same as MP were just six runs shy of Mumbai’s first innings total with seven wickets in hand at the end of Day 3.
Brief scores: Mumbai 374 vs Madhya Pradesh 368/3 in 123 overs (Yash 133, Shubham 116, Rajat 67 n.o).