Mumbai,: A topsy-turvy ride over the last few years left Siddhesh Lad without any motivation, but on Thursday, the 32-year-old heaved a sigh of relief after making a successful return to the Mumbai camp with a resolute 169 in the Ranji Trophy.
Lad, the son of famous cricket coach Dinesh Lad who has trained the likes of Rohit Sharma and Shardul Thakur to name a few, had gone away from his home team Mumbai in search of greener pastures but it all ended in disappointment.
Having left Mumbai for Goa in his bid to play one full season, Lad endured failure and the road back to finding a place in the country’s most dominant team in Ranji Trophy was not easy.
But, on the second day of their match against Odisha, everything seemed to have fallen in place for the right-hander whose big hundred contributed to Mumbai’s highest partnership for the fourth wicket in Ranji Trophy history, in which India batter Shreyas Iyer made a 228-ball 233 with 24 fours and nine sixes.
Lad and Iyer’s efforts with the bat powered Mumbai to a mammoth score of 602 for four declared.
“The story starts from June when I started with the off-season camp. I did not believe in myself that much, but the coach and the team management, the way they prepared me… because I was nowhere before that,” Lad told reporters after the day’s play.
“(As) I was not playing, my motivation was down. I wasn’t sure if I’ll make it into the probables also, but then I had a chat with my coach and he was like, ‘if you work on your fitness, if you work on little bit of skills, mentally, we know and you know (that) you’re strong, you have everything in you’,” he recalled.
The journey back to the Mumbai side was not easy since Lad also had to recover from a sports hernia surgery while serving a cooling-off period for one year.
“Two years back I played First-Class cricket. I had a surgery, my motivation was down. For 3-4 months I wasn’t playing. But we had a two-week camp in Alur,” he said.
“And Omi sir (head coach Omkar Salvi) made me come out of my comfort zone. We used to train from 6.20 in the morning till 6.20 in the evening. For 15 days (it was about) coming out of that comfort zone.”
Lad had played the 2022-23 season for Goa hoping to make a dent but his plans went awry with a bad run with the bat.
“To be frank, after Goa, I didn’t feel like I would be able to play First-Class again. I was 30, my motivation was a little down and then to come back to Mumbai, I didn’t know if it would happen or not.
“I didn’t have that much belief till the end of May (this year). But June, July, August… the off-season camp I did, I worked really hard with the support staff.”
Lad said it was satisfying to watch Iyer flourish from the other end and wished if the batter was there in the Indian side for the New Zealand Test series.
“Shreyas is back in form. We expect a lot from him. We can see his talent. But, it’s good for the team and for himself that he is knocking the door of the Indian team once again,”
he said.
“Given the situation, if Shreyas had played against New Zealand, his game against spin would have made a difference. But, I am sure, if he keeps doing this, there are selectors for him,” he said.
For Lad, who had left Mumbai to find a place in the Indian team, the homecoming will be all about helping the 42-time winners retain the Ranji Trophy title.
“Right now, my goal is to win the Ranji Trophy again in Mumbai. Only then, I will be satisfied that I will be a part of another winning team. I will tell my kids that I won 2-3 seasons with Mumbai, that’s it. Right now, I am not thinking much,” he said.
