RE-OPENING STANZA

Panaji: Swapnil Asnodkar belies the sobriquet ‘Pocket Dynamite’ earned for a performance that made him the toast of the first ever India Premier League (IPL) in 2008.
Soft-spoken and affable, an incessant smile lights up the diminutive cricketer’s visage. His voice is calm and demeanour ever respectful.
The hard-hitting right-hand opening batsman, however, wasn’t very respectful of bowlers in the IPL cauldron eight years ago.The then 24-year-old unheralded Goan gelled well with greats such as opening partner Graeme Smith of South Africa and legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne of Australia, while helping Rajasthan Royals surge to the title of a new cash-rich tournament that turned the sport on its head.
Asnodkar totaled 311 runs in nine innings in IPL-1 at a strike rate of 133.47. A flourish amid strong opening partnerships with Smith which yielded 418 runs at an average of 59.71, the highest of the tournament. On his IPL debut against Kolkata Knight Riders, he scored 60 runs off 34 balls replete with 10 fours and a six that made for a strike rate of 176.47.
Sadly, Asnodkar has since fallen off the IPL radar. After the heady days of 2008, he failed to reproduce the form that made him the event’s leading light and after playing just two matches in 2010 and one the next year, he found himself out of the team.
At the recent Goa Corporate League (GCL) which saw many an India star in the fray, Asnodkar gave glimpses of his IPL-1 prowess, hitting two sparkling fifties to while anchoring Goa Lions’ entry into the semifinals where they lost to ONGC.
The opener hit 50 off 27 balls against Mahindra Rise and 55 off 44 against Air India in the group games before falling for a three-stroke 12 in the semifinals.
Taking a break from a workout in the gym at the GCA Academy, Porvorim, as he winds down after a hectic season, the five-foot-five-inch tall Asnodkar fondly looks back to IPL-1. He does so while expressing great satisfaction, not so much from a personal viewpoint but that of putting Goa, languishing in the backwaters, on the Indian cricket map.
“Those were fantastic times. I used to do well at the first class level but IPL-1 made me recognizable. People used to come up to me and click photographs following my purple patch in the first IPL,” Asnodkar recollected.
“It brought Goans so much joy that a boy from the state was playing in the IPL and although they did not have a direct connect, they supported Rajasthan Royals for the whole and sole reason that I, a Goan, played for them,” the Porvorim resident said.
Recognition also came in the form of national call-ups for the Emerging Players team to Israel after the inaugural IPL and to the India ‘A’ team for a tri-nation tournament at home which involved Australia and New Zealand.
For all his positivity, one discerns the hurt in his eyes when talking about the decline. “I really don’t know what went wrong. I am still puzzled. I have been waiting for another chance, especially this season. I am sixth on the scorers list (762 runs) in domestic cricket and I was hopeful of being picked,” Asnodkar revealed.
Two years ago, he aggregated 362 in nine matches in the Mushtaq Ali T20 national championship to finish second highest in the list. But the effort went largely unnoticed, coming as it was after the IPL.
“Maybe, belonging to a small unit makes it that much tougher for selection,” Asnodkar said with a shrug. “But one has to just go out and do your job,” he said with a touch of fatalism.
And fate seems to have had a firm say in the five-feet-five-inch tall opener’s prospects in the IPL after his fairy tale start. Asnodkar’s progress was stymied by a torn ligament in his little finger on the right hand during Rajasthan Royals’ first training session in South Africa for IPL-2.
“The injury affected 10 days of my preparation which is so vital on fast and bouncy tracks in South Africa,” Asnodkar lamented.
“I accepted this as part and parcel of professional sport but I don’t know why I wasn’t given a chance. I’ve seen players getting three or four opportunities,” he added.
“It didn’t stop me from working hard as I coped with the rigours of a competitive world and I fully understand that if one doesn’t perform, someone else will replace you,” Asnodkar said.
“Sure, it’s very disappointing not being part of the IPL but I tell myself that this is not the end of life. There’s first class cricket as well and I intend to keep working hard, do my best, retain mental focus and back all of that with positive thinking and the belief that God is there, watching....,” he philosophized.
The quirks apart, Asnodkar was mindful that he had lost the element of surprise in the second edition of the IPL but admits that a professional cricketer needs to be innovative to counter the backlash from opponents who had studied his game.
The ever introspective Asnodkar has induced minor changes in technique which include the direction of the back-lift and reviewing his approach over all three formats of the game the entire season.
“You may start with a certain technique at the begining of the season but you need to change as it progresses. You have to keep watching videos of yourself and keep learning,” he explained. “There’s no room for complacency or error,” Asnodkar reiterated.
Goa coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar, for one, backs Asnodkar as an all-format player. “He has natural skills and the right mental approach,” said the former India player.
“He has what it takes to be a complete player and a repertoire of strokes to back him -- he cuts and drives well and is strong square on the on-side,” Kanitkar added.
“Besides he’s very hard working, adaptable to the demands of the game and shows attention to the nuances,” said the coach who hails from Pune.
“He needs just one good season to make it to the top level again,” said Kanitkar who doesn’t put it beyond Asnodkar making it to the fringes of national selection.
Kanitkar’s words reflect Asnodkar’s achievements in the field. He hit 254 not out against Railways at Margao in 2007-08 and and another double ton (232) against Jammu and Kashmir in Jammu last year shows he’s got what it takes in all versions of the game.
Asnodkar, who turned 32 on March 29, believes he has a good five or six years of cricket left in him. Time enough to influence a clutch of young players who can go a long way to boost Goan cricket.
“Amogh Desai, Darshan Misal, Snehal Kauthankar and Deepraj Gaonkar are four of several youngsters who can move up the ranks,” he said as he recollected his Ranji Trophy debut as a 17-year-old against Hyderabad at Panjim Gymkhana way back in 2001. His best single moment, however, is his 60 against KKR on IPL debut in myriad memories that include the experience of playing against his idol, the great Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians), and sharing the dressing room with Rajasthan Royal teammates which included world icons.
Asnodkar may have exited the IPL stage but reminded fans of his prowess in the Goa Professional League, now defunct after the local association decided to replace it with the corporate league.
His scintillating displays have marked many a victory for Dempo, Salgaocar and Caculo Goans. In the 2014 final, he hit a 54-ball 61 to help Dempo beat Geno by seven wickets and retain the title. The effort won him the man of the match award and enhanced his stature as man of the series, an honour he was duly bestowed with.
In 2015, he hammered a 61-ball 106 to help Caculo Goans put it across Geno Dragons by 28 runs in the semifinals.
The GPL’s demise doesn’t perturb Asnodkar too much as he believes the GCL gives plenty of opportunity to local players to pit their wits against formidable outfits from the rest of the country.
“I appreciate the move by the GCA to start the GCL,” he said. “It will give many of our young Goan players exposure against top players and I know that helps from my experience with DY Patil who I play for in Mumbai for the last eight years,” Asnodkar explained.
Coached by Nitin Vernekar during his formative years, Asnodkar, who also played chess at school and college level, made the switch from Holy Family school, Porvorim, to New Goa, Mapusa, where his cricketing journey began.
He then wielded the willow with aplomb during his college years at Saraswat, Mapusa, where he graduated in Commerce.
Years later, he declined offers from the Railways and Vidarbha as he wished to contribute to the game in Goa.
And home and hearth will be the focus as Asnodkar says it’s time to chill and unwind at the end of the season. Asnodkar always looks forward to spending time with family -- enjoying the company of his parents -- dad Ashok and mum Nayan -- his backbone right through life and career.
Time off competition and training will also enable him to spend more time with wife Ashita, another source of support, and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Aadhya before the grind and toil of the new season in June.
A season, one hopes, which will help him launch a strong comeback into the upper echelons of Indian cricket.