CHENNAI: When Prasanna Agoram messaged Shamar Joseph after Day three of the second Test between West Indies and Australia, it was to check how his toe was. The pacer had been retired hurt earlier in the day after being at the receiving end of the toe-crushing yorker from Mitchell Starc. At stumps, Australia were 60/2, needing another 156 runs to win the Test.
Understandably in pain, Joseph replied that he was not sure if he could bowl yet. Now, Prasanna, who has been a data analyst for close to two decades, tells him West Indies would have had a chance at victory if the lead was around 300.
When Joseph told him that he will take five wickets if the doctors let him play, he gave a reality check saying even that might not be enough. The 24-year-old's response to that still hasn't sunk in for Prasanna. "He immediately said, 'Oh five will not be enough? Okay then, I will take more," Prasanna recalls.
"I have been an analyst for a long time now, worked with some of the greats of the game. Most times when you tell them the situation and what they need to do, they would say 'I will give my best'. He said 'if five is not enough, I will take more'. In 23 years, this is the first time a player has responded in such a way to the question."
That response in essence summed up what Joseph did with the pink ball at the Gabba on Sunday. With an injured toe, which the team doctor had put in place for the time being, he ran in to bowl 11.5 overs on the trot, taking seven wickets for 68 runs. His seventh was the final nail in the coffin for Australia as West Indies scripted a historic Test win — beating Australia in Australia after 27 years.
"A real dream come true for Joseph the deliverer for the West Indies. There will be felicitations from Kingston, to Georgetown, Guayana!," screamed Ian Bishop on Channel Seven as Joseph ran towards the other end of the ground after castling Josh Hazlewood.
Bishop was in tears, so was Brian Lara and Carl Hooper. They had to wait two decades to see the country, they played for and dominated world cricket once, win a Test match Down Under with a team that did not have the senior players, did not have the experience, hell, Joseph and captain Kraigg Brathwaite hadn't met until he joined the team for this tour.
And as is often the case, the entire cricketing world felt the joy and healed a little. The icing on the cake, however, is that Joseph, who had left the far-removed village of Baracara only in 2018, worked as a security guard in New Amsterdam, was nowhere near a West Indies call-up until a few months ago, who was a net bowler in the Caribbean Premier League last September, had turned up in Adelaide, taking a wicket of the very first ball on debut and led them to glory with a pink cherry and a broken toe in Brisbane.
Every once in a while the sporting universe comes together to turn life upside down for a prodigal talent, taking them to the top of the world. Where several guardian angels become the guiding light to give them every opportunity possible. Joseph's is one such story. And among the many angels he had — from his partner Trishana, Romario Shepherd, Sir Curtly Ambrose to Leon Johnson — Prasanna was a significant one.
So much so that he has become a father figure for the 24-year-old. When Prasanna first saw Joseph, he was a net bowler for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL. All it took the veteran analyst was two balls to recognise the markings of an international pace sensation. At that point, Joseph had played just three four-day games for Guyana across formats. He called up Joseph, and asked him to bowl in a certain way to Azam Khan, and the pacer obliged. Four balls later, Prasanna, who is the analyst with the team, was clear that Joseph should be playing in CPL.
Such was the destiny that Keemo Paul was in a situation to be ruled out of the tournament and they needed a replacement. "I called our captain Imran Tahir and told him that this kid should be playing for the team the next day. All he asked was whether I was sure. He knows me well enough to trust me. Joseph was still standing there not understanding what was happening. We called the owner, got him a contract immediately. Joseph was in tears when we handed it to him.
All I told him was to bowl as fast as he can, and he bowled 143.7kph in his first game," recalls Prasanna. From thereon, there was no looking back as Joseph was called up for West Indies A tour of South Africa and then the Test team for the Australia series.
One can sense the pride in his voice when Prasanna talks about Joseph. When the youngster was running through the Australian batting line-up, he was flying back to Johannesburg. While keeping in mind that he used to be technical head of the National Cricket Academy in India, performance analyst with Cricket South Africa for more than a decade, and multiple IPL teams, ask him what it meant watching Joseph being at the top of the world, hailed and celebrated by every single person who loves cricket, Prasanna has to say this:
"This is a stuff of dreams. I have been a part of a number of teams for more than 20 years now, have seen the highest of highs and lowest of lows, but the joy he has given me is unmatched. I do not see anything I do in the future that will give me more happiness than what Shamar has given me. When I tweeted during CPL, a lot of them said 'it is too early to call'.
Finding talents is not just about numbers, you have to look at their technique, action and other things too. He has such a natural action that we touched upon just little things during CPL and then after when he came to South Africa for the A series. I will never compare anyone with Malcolm Marshall, but if he is taken care of Joseph can be as good as him.
"Most of us aspired to play cricket for our country when we were young, and so did I. If anyone who loves the sport says otherwise, they would be lying. But I couldn't break through. I first took up umpiring, then moved to data analysis. I am a cricket mad person, and have tried to be the best analyst I can be. Now, he (Joseph) has only given me more motivation and hunger to find more talent and change people's lives. I wish to have that kind of opportunity when I can find and change the lives of many Shamar Josephs," he says.
That is what Joseph has done to Prasanna and everyone in the cricketing fraternity. With his sheer will, he has instilled hope that things will be better, that good things happen if you believe in yourself and give it your all, that dreams do come true. And he was able to do that because he is still a kid at heart who loved bowling with whatever he could get his hands on in Baracara village. To understand him, one needs to know Joseph's reply when Prasanna messaged him after the match: "Father, I told you I don't go back on my word."
Which is why, when Joseph says, "I will always be here to play Test cricket for the West Indies. I am not afraid to say this live. There will be times when T20 might come around and Test cricket will be there … but I will always be available to play for the West Indies no matter how much money comes towards me," you know he meant every word of it despite the current circumstances and scheduling of franchise and international cricket.
At the moment, Joseph is flying back home having been ruled out of the UAE T20 League where he was set to play for Dubai Capitals. Whether he will be able to turn up for Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League that begins next month is not clear. And it should not come as a surprise should an IPL franchise sign him as an injury replacement as we have seen in the past. How the future plays out for Joseph, West Indies and Test cricket only time will tell. But irrespective of what happens, Joseph has already done enough to etch his name in the cricket's history books.