Inquisitive Hooda asking difficult questions of rivals

In the year they had already spent as roommates, Munaf Patel had gotten used to delivering cricketing sermons to his eager young partner. And he had also grown aware that Deepak Hooda wouldn’t tire of listening to his tales of yore. Even when Munaf’s throat had gone dry and he couldn’t continue anymore. Then, like a front-bencher, it was Hooda’s turn to start asking questions. It was either “How do you overcome pressure situations?” or “How do you build an innings?”

On other occasions, he would pester Munaf to set up a meeting for him with a senior player in the opposition team. Like the time, Mumbai were visiting Baroda for a Ranji Trophy game and the 20-year-old had set his eyes on Wasim Jaffer.

“Five minutes is all he asked for. And he sat with him for over an hour. He didn’t let go of him. But that’s Deepak. For me, just like it was for Wasim, it’s tough to not stop talking to him simply because he’s so keen on listening,” says Munaf. That is before he sums up the inquisitive nature of the boy in a way only he can. He says, “Deepak will keep asking you questions. Itna journalist bhi nahi pochte.”

On Sunday, Hooda did what a number of young cricketers before him had done on the IPL stage — turn into an overnight sensation, maybe even a household name. The 20-year-old smashed 54 off just 25 deliveries and took Rajasthan Royals to the cusp of a famous victory. But still, Hooda is not your quintessential T20 generation cricketer. Far from it. Or so insists Munaf anyway. In fact, he harps on it incessantly.

“Kuch bhi ho, ladke ka jigara bada hai. He isn’t someone who is happy with instant success, or taking a short-cut to fame like many youngsters today. He obviously enjoys playing in the IPL but his focus is on playing at the highest level. He’s ready to put in the hard yards,” the former India pacer explains.

His rationale is based on the unconditional hard-work that he’s seen Hooda put in to his cricket from close quarters. Regardless of whether he’s got anyone accompanying him for practice, Hooda’s the ultimate ‘first-in, last-out’ guy.

“If practice is scheduled for an hour, he will spend three hours,”says Munaf.

At the Ferozshah Kotla stadium, young Hooda wasn’t just faced by a tough opposition attack. He also had to overcome the pressure of a tough run-chase, with the required run-rate touching fever-pitch with every delivery. But you couldn’t see it impact the youngster in anyway, or it wasn’t visible externally anyway.

Jagbir, the senior Hooda and a former kabbadi player for Services himself, wasn’t surprised by his ward’s impeccable temperament though. The Air Force man in fact believes that his son only gets stronger when there’s tension in the air.

“During his Ranji debut, he spoke to his mother and told her to come to the ground because he was going to score a hundred. We all laughed then but when we went to see his game he actually scored a hundred against Bengal,” Jagbir recalls, fondly.

From Haryana to baroda

Hooda began his cricket career in Haryana, even representing the state’s U-16 team. But he had to shift base to Baroda owing to his father’s transfer. But before long he was a stellar member of the Baroda junior team. The rise was steady from that point on, and he was an integral part of India’s U-19 World Cup campaign last year in Sharjah, where they couldn’t retain their title.

Munaf recalls another instance of Hooda’s sincerity towards his beloved sport at the start of last year’s domestic season. Having faced a number of young fast bowlers with the ability to get the ball to rise on him in Sharjah during the World Cup, Hooda was keen on improving his game against the short-ball. And he would make Munaf bowl bouncers at him endlessly in the nets at the Moti Bagh ground.

“At first, he had a tendency to play at all of them. But then I explained to him how important it was to leave some as well. You have to do that after all to succeed in the four-day game. To his credit, he always listens,” says Munaf.

But being a earnest student of the game doesn’t mean Hooda lacks in modern-day spunk. He was a part of the Royals’ squad last year as well. But he didn’t get to play a game. Twice he wasn’t on time for the team-bus and one occasion he even walked up to mentor Rahul Dravid and asked him if he was going to get a chance at all or should he start looking at other teams. Though Dravid assured him of a spot in the coming season, there were some who looked at Hooda’s earnestness as being an attitude-problem. Not Munaf though.

“Having an attitude is very important in today’s time. First impression is last impression. He has all the shots, like he showed the other day, and there’s no dearth of talent. But I told him that your talent will come second but your attitude will also be considered supreme,” he says.

And in his inimitable fashion, Munaf also gave his young roomie a piece of advice that he believes should be Hooda’s mantra.

“IPL se confidence lena baaki kuch mat lena,” says Munaf before bursting out in laughter. He says, Hooda has followed it to the core so far. You can’t help but believe him.

Source:: Indian Express