Nearly a year ago, there was an article in Wisden India – one of the most respected websites that caters to cricket affairs across the globe – about the health of the game in the northeast. Apart from the fact that the focus of the feature was the northeast states – a place, according to one seasoned cricket writer, that sees as much cricket as Tanzania – what really caught the attention was the identity of the person behind the piece. The byline read: Hokaito Zhimomi|Dimapur| July 7, 2016.
With the permission of the author, the piece entitled ‘Cricket in the north-east: BCCI must build on the A-B-C’ was reproduced in this newspaper the next day. Hokaito Zhimomi represents the other half of the only pair of Naga cricketers to have tasted the dust and sun of a Ranji Trophy game. The other player is Jonathan Rongsen. Mr Zhimomi holds the distinction of being the first Naga cricketer to get the Ranji Trophy gig. He was also a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad in IPL 2008. In the article, he had written on the need to build cricket from the grassroots – “from A-B-C”.
“If these things had happened in my time, or when Rongsen Jonathan was growing up, it would have been good. I ended up playing just four first-class matches”, a passage from said article read. This is put in context in another Wisden India piece, in which Mr Zhimomi was interviewed by a journalist in 2012. “No academies, no coaches, no proper grounds … when I went to Guwahati and bought a bat for Rs 1500, everyone in Dimapur was so impressed”.
To have emerged from that depressing scene, and crack the Ranji code, speaks volume of the character of Zhimomi. This column is featuring him today because of yet another piece of news – of a much more recent vintage – concerning Zhimomi. On Sunday, he opened his own cricket coaching centre at Dimapur. This piece of news, instantly, recalled his A-B-C message in Wisden India. It seems safe to conclude that Mr Zhimomi – to use cricket parlance – talks and plays with a straight bat. Nothing says ‘A’ like academy.
Of the many sporting disciplines, cricket is one among the most technical. Its whole game is built and structured around basic techniques that form the game’s spine. And for three days in a week, young players will absorb such nuances while honing their natural skills. As priceless as this may be, however, there is something even more valuable that Mr Zhimomi’s latest initiative represents. In the above mentioned interview he was asked this: Was there anyone in Nagaland, leave alone Dimapur, who was qualified to tell him if he was good enough to become a cricketer?
Prompt came the reply: “No one, no one at all”.
Now we have one.
