P.R. Man Singh, manager of the 1983 World Cup-winning Indian team, appealed to the Telangana Government to felicitate T. Dilip, fielding coach of the Indian team which won the T20 World Cup in West Indies recently.
“Dilip, is also one more Hyderabadi apart from Mohamed Siraj, who had immensely contributed to Rohit Sharma-led team’s victory recently. It is good that Siraj was felicitated but we should recognise the kind of efforts these support staff like Dilip put up behind the scenes,” said Man Singh, who was the chief guest at the felicitation function of Dilip put up by Coaching Beyond here on Friday.
Reflecting on the reference made to his contribution to Kapil Dev’s World Cup victory, Man Singh said as far as Kapil’s memorable catch to send back Sir Viv Richards in the final was concerned, it was all because of the captain’s efforts and that he had nothing to do.
“Unlike then, when someone like Axar Patel and Suryakumar Yadav take those brilliant catches, it is because of all the hard work of many members of the squad, especially support staff,” he said.
Responding to the felicitation, Dilip said he felt great to be on the right side of the result after years of hard work, and passion in what had been a truly “beautiful journey” for him. “A failure doesn’t define. You have to keep coming back strongly backed by solid efforts,” he said.
“I owe a lot to John Sir (K. John Manoj, former HCA Secretary and co-founder of Coaching Beyond), R bhai (former India fielding coach R. Sridhar) and all my fellow coaches and players for their great support over the years,” Dilip said. “R Bhai always guided me whenever I looked up to him,” he added.
R. Sridhar of Coaching Beyond and former India fielding coach revealed that T. Dilip refused to apply for a fielding coaching assignment with Andhra Ranji team a few years ago despite a heavy pay packet offered.
“He told me that his focus was only on joining NCA one day,” Sridhar said. “Later, when once I informed him to apply for the Indian fielding coach assignment, he politely enquired whether I was joking. But, when he did eventually, Dilip fared better than Jhonty Rhodes and joined the India-A under Rahul Dravid’s mentorship. The rest is history,” Sridhar said amidst applause.
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