CHENNAI: Swapnil Asnodkar will turn 42 in a few days. Now a father to two lovely kids, the former Goa batter will look to catch some of the IPL action as the league begins on March 28 — a day before his birthday. The priority, however, will be Kerala U23 boys, whom the former right-hand opening batter is coaching these days.
Priorities could change with time but not memories and Asnodkar knows it well. It was the inaugural IPL season in 2008 which made him a household name with legend Shane Warne nicknaming him Goa Cannon and fans comparing him to Sri Lanka's Romesh Kaluwitharana given his diminutive stature and fearless approach with the willow.
His daughter and son might be unaware of his exploits in the league at the moment given their age but ardent IPL fans still remember Asnodkar along with former South Africa captain Graeme Smith for giving quick starts to Rajasthan Royals that eventually helped the Warne-led young side to clinch the title.
"It was amazing. If I think about it now, it was 19 years — a long time ago. We had played Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy before but IPL was on another level. Legends of the game were playing there. Sharing the dressing room with them, playing alongside them, playing against them was a dream come true obviously. It was a game changer for me. Before IPL, I used to score a lot of runs but people used to know me by name but after IPL things changed and people started knowing me by my face also," Asnodkar told this daily while reminiscing the time he spent in the RR dressing room during the first season.
'The land of beaches' was Warne's response the moment Asnodkar told the spin wizard that he is from Goa. Later during the season, the captain along with his few players even visited Asnodkar's home in Goa. "Meeting Warne for the first time was the best experience I would say. Obviously spending time with him and learning from him was a huge takeaway. Unfortunately, he is not there with us. He was a very good person," said Asnodkar, who played 88 first-class matches scoring 5883 runs including 14 hundreds.
The tactical genius he was, late Warne was regarded as the best captain Australia never had (he captained in 11 ODIs but never in Tests). Rajasthan Royals, however, had him and the legbreak googly bowler proved his worth by leading the team to the inaugural title despite a lot of youngsters like Asnodkar, Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan at his disposal. Asnodkar said Warne's simple methods did wonders for him and other rookies. "He was asking us to just go and play our natural game rather than being under pressure. He told us to just enjoy, go out and express ourselves in the best possible way without thinking about the outcome. That actually helped us to go out and give our best. He along with Darren Barry, our coach, both played a big role."
The first season yielded 311 runs from nine matches for Asnodkar and the largely fruitful campaign earned him an India A call-up later that year when Australia and New Zealand A teams visited the country for a 50-over tri-series. The squad included Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf and Irfan Pathan. Unlike his RR teammate Yusuf, Asnodkar, who got run out twice before being dropped ahead of the final league match, did not have a series to remember.
"That time, 19 years ago, Goa didn't have indoor practice facilities. It was very difficult to prepare in June as it rains a lot here. I was not well prepared then to be honest. But today, cricket goes on round the year with a lot of facilities and academies coming up. I didn't have the best of stints, I got run out twice in the series. But again whatever happens, happens for good as you cannot really go back and change the result. I don't regret it but yeah opportunity was there to take unfortunately I missed out on it," said Asnodkar.
Overall, he played 85 List A matches scoring 2858 runs and 73 T20s with 1699 runs against his name. He continued playing for Goa till early 2018 but could not find his name in the list of probables after that. He waited for a year or two before announcing his retirement in 2019. "Obviously it was a bit sad that I have to give up this game because I love this game and at the age of 35 I had to retire. If you see Paras Dogra, he is still playing even after 40. As a batter you can prolong your career for some more time. But I always believe, whatever happens, it happens for good and now I am enjoying coaching and really looking forward to being a coach," Asnodkar reflected on his decision to retire early.
He then joined age group teams from Goa as a coach in 2019 and worked with them for the next four-five years before switching his allegiance to Nagaland as a batting coach. The team was in Plate Group then but promoted to Elite Group during the season. With Nagaland deciding not to have additional support staff, Asnodkar tried his luck with nearly seven or eight state sides with Kerala finalising him as the coach for their U23 state side recently.
Asnodkar might have played three more IPL seasons after 2008 but could not replicate the success of the first edition. The experience he had during his IPL stint, however, is still helping him in his new role as a coach. "Obviously it helps. You tend to link to situations quickly. If a player goes through a rough patch, you tend to understand what might be the player's mindset. As I have seen everything, it has become easy for me. I try to converse with players and open them up and speak their mind. That way it helps to guide them in a better way. I have seen these situations closely and gone through them so I know how to deal with them. That helps me to play a psychologist's role as well because it's more mental rather than technique. Technique is important but the mental or psychological part is very important."
There have been enough examples where a player, despite not having a very successful career, went on to become a legendary coach. Asnodkar, who strongly believes in destiny, could be the next in the league. "Not really, they are still young. Maybe someday they will read and know what their father did," was Asnodkar's response when queried whether his children knew about his 2008 IPL exploits. Maybe a few years down the line, they would get to read how their father became a successful coach despite not being so successful in his playing days.