Mohit Kale - One of many in a rat race, bold as few, unfazed by none
“I got hit on the head on the second day itself, and said that I wanted to quit.” ; “I want the next couple of years to go well so that my dream of playing for India is at least finally complete.”
These two statements were mentioned in a freewheeling interview by rising batter Mohit Kale, close to eight minutes from each other. Although chronologically speaking, the said instances are over two decades apart.
Being hit on the head is the earliest memory Mohit has of a cricketing field. Now 21 years later, he practically lives on it, thrives on it, and dreams of it.
He is fully committed to the Indian cricket rat race, giving it his all to become more than just a mere statistic for record books.
He'd know that the general hubbub of modern life means that even the most ardent fans only get to witness the tip of the colossal iceberg that is Indian cricket. For them, the feelings of struggle and penance are limited to the top 15 chasing ICC titles for a decade and recovering from countless setbacks.
However, it is an extensive and tangled network, built upon the foundation of the domestic circuit. Here lie several stories, each so different from the other and yet so similar.
It is easy for the Mohit Kale story to be lost among his peers, who are in the same rat race that he is embroiled in at the minute. But the race has a designated lane for Mohit to stand out, and he is pacing along in his cricketing journey, with the first steps taken at the age of six.
"My mom and dad are both cricket fanatics, so they enrolled me into a club when I was six years old.” Mohit tells Sportskeeda from Pondicherry. I got hit on the head on the second day itself, and said that I wanted to quit. So, they pulled me out after that, and then I rejoined after three years.”
Among several of the clips of Mohit’s batting available online, there are more than a couple of strokes bound to arrest the viewer. Whether it be a sublime picture-perfect cover drive, with a knee on the ground (he holds the pose for a few seconds for extra brownie points) or an unforgiving and brute slog sweep off a pacer, which was surprisingly full of grace.
It is with the same flair and grace that Mohit speaks about his journey.
"During junior cricket, there was not a full understanding of the game, and I used to play for enjoyment. So, back then I used to think of only hitting all the time, and I played that way and scored runs in the selection match,” Mohit fondly recalls. “I was then made captain, and scored two hundreds against West Bengal. Honestly, I did not have any captaincy aspirations or playing for the VCA, but it happened as I kept playing through the levels.”
Mohit had a near-perfect journey along expected lines in age-group cricket
Mohit led Vidarbha across the U-16, U-19. U-21 and U-23 levels and tasted a lot of success. The performances inevitably caught the eye of the state selectors, who decided to call him up midway through the 2018-19 Ranji season.
His debut was nothing to write home about, with a sole innings of four runs. But his first season, which ended in silverware was certainly decent: 327 runs in 10 innings batting in the middle order at an average of 36.33 and a couple of fifties, including two crucial cameos in a cagey Ranji final at home.
"From junior level itself, I had a grasp on field settings. I was a huge Sachin Tendulkar fan, and I used to watch him standing at slip and making field adjustments,” Mohit reflects. “My field placement knowledge was good. I won't say I was a great fielder, but I was a decent fielder. So, I had a good idea of how field settings worked. Perhaps the selectors who came to watch noticed my ability to set the fields, and as a bonus, I scored some runs too! I think they saw this quality and that led me to captaincy.”
As a fish dropped in a new tank, Mohit found himself in a Vidarbha dressing room with revered players like Wasim Jaffer, Umesh Yadav, and Faiz Fazal.
Much like anyone else in his shoes, fear was the emotion that dominated the rest at the time, while being in the presence of players of such stature.
"I was a little scared during my first season. I was 21 years old when I was selected. I had scored runs at the U-23 level and then I got a selection call. I went to Chattisgarh, and I was summoned directly to the ground.” Mohit says. I saw Wasim bhai and I was a bit scared, I mean I had seen Wasim bhai play since my childhood days and it was quite a different feeling for me to see him. But, he made me feel very comfortable straightaway. He showed me his bat and talked about it. It was like I already knew him, and it was because he made me feel that way,” he recalls.
"You always feel comfortable whenever you are around Umesh Yadav. Faiz bhai is a little strict, but his leadership quality was brilliant and he led the team for so many years. He used to tell me to go bat in the nets and gave me tips, told me that the quality of bowlers in Ranji Trophy is tougher than junior levels,” Mohit added.
Stumble from promised grace - Lockdown and stiff competition came as unwelcome hurdles for Mohit
Age-group cricket arguably went as Mohit planned, leading to a call-up at 21, which is not too shabby either. In a team full of seasoned players that won two titles in a row, he did well to carve a niche for himself in the middle order.
Mohit opened the 2019-20 season with 82 runs against Andhra, following it up with 138 against Rajasthan, where he was player of the match. A string of poor scores followed as he compiled only nine runs in his next four innings, to find himself off the time. His low aligned with the world’s as it became exposed to COVID.
"It was going well till then (his second season), but then COVID came,” Mohit remembers. “There was no Ranji and I did not get any games in Syed Mushtaq Ali as well, and I just felt that time was ticking by. I then played the U-25 (CK Nayudu Trophy), I was the fifth leading run-scorer in that tournament and scored 226 as well. But, when I got an opportunity in Ranji again, I could not score many runs. After lockdown, I did not get too many chances, but I was like I will perform when the opportunity comes.”
For a plethora of individuals, cricketers or otherwise, the lockdown has become a safe haven to place blame, so much so that it has become a first instinct. But Mohit staunchly refuses to be included in that legion of people.
Instead, he maturely admitted that a mix of controllable and uncontrollable led to his stumble, which sadly the ruthless rat race is indifferent to.
‘Quiet acceptance’ and 'hunger for more’ are usually the go-to responses to setbacks like this, and Mohit has adopted the same. He watched players he shared the dressing room in the junior circuit, the likes of Jitesh Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Shubham Dubey, and Atharva Taide, all go and earn IPL contracts while Mohit, in his own words, felt stuck.
"I think lockdown did have an impact, but I will not entirely place blame on it. Right before the lockdown, I had played my second Ranji season and I was quite settled in the team and was familiar with everything and everyone,” Mohit on whether lockdown ruined the momentum he had in place. “ I went to England after that and made some decent scores. Then there were T20s and I did well in the selection trials, but could not get a game. So that year went like that. Also, the youngsters in Vidarbha were doing quite well. As you mentioned that batch was quite good, so even if a couple of matches do not go well, someone else gets a chance.”
Baptism under the clouds - Stints in England helped develop Mohit’s all-round game
Mohit earned the chance to play in England after the lockdown, where he returned solid numbers. In 2021, he represented Wem CC in the Birmingham & District Premier League Division Two.
He scored 676 runs at an average of 29.39 and picked up 27 wickets at an average of 18.70.
The next year, he played for Pernith CC, scoring 325 runs along with 21 wickets to his name.
An overseas stint for any budding cricketer is valuable, and it was no different for Mohit either.
"There are so many spinners in India that a part-time off-spinner like myself does not get too many chances. We used to already play with three frontline spinners,” Mohit says of his bowling opportunity in England. “An overseas stint is very important, speaking as a batter, because you get to play quality spinners in India, but when I went to England, there were good bowlers, particularly the medium pacers. The ball swings a lot there, and you get to play around 22 matches. When you play that many matches in such conditions on a consistent basis, it makes a huge difference. When I returned to India, playing swing bowling became a bit easier. I was able to face Gurbani (Rajneesh) better in the nets, so the difference was evident. “
The earliest and perhaps the biggest argument that every aspiring cricketer in India is presented with is the irritating, but sadly accurate statement - ‘1.4 billion people, only 11 on the field’. Even though the number of matches is more than ever and the bench is also bigger than ever, it is still not big enough to accommodate the talent in the peninsula.
With cricket expanding more than ever, India emerges as the biggest exporters of talent which turns out to be a win-win situation. Saurabh Netravalkar is the recent torchbearer of the long list of names who have sought abode elsewhere after failing to make it in the rat race.
"Such thoughts do come up from time to time,” Mohit says on the evergrowing overseas market. “But when I started playing cricket I always dreamt of playing for India. I'm 27 now, and I think if the next 2-3 years go well, there is still a chance for me in Indian cricket. If you look at Suryakumar Yadav, he made his debut when he was 29 or 30.”
"So, I want the next couple of years to go well so that my dream of playing for India is at least finally complete. If that does not work out, and when I hit 32 or 33 years of age, then I can think about a potential change. I generally stay and think about the present, so I want to only focus on what's in my hand, which is the upcoming season, and see how I can do well there. One good season might not cut it, but I want to see how close I get to my dream,” Mohit added
Swapping sentiment for stoicism - Mohit chose an exile of sorts for his own good
Having hit the psychologically dreaded 27, last November, and an indifferent Ranji season with three appearances, Mohit was caught with a vexing problem after being ‘stuck in a loop’. The stars aligned together when his job in Pondicherry helped him make a switch to domestic sides ahead of the upcoming 2024 season.
That being said, it was not just a matter of packing up the bags and leaving, it involved so much more than that.
Junior titles, first-class debut, first-class hundred, and senior titles all for his home side are hardly something that can be just cast aside, even for the ones who abhor nostalgia. Luckily for Mohit, he saw the big picture and was the only one that mattered to his career.
"When I first thought of leaving Vidarbha, I was not too emotional, because I was thinking about my career and how a switch might improve it,” Mohit says. “ I played the T10 league in Ponicherry and put in some decent performances, and then a selector here told me to get the NOC from VCA. So, when I applied for the NOC and went to collect it, I talked to a few people there and that is when it hit me. The office was in the ground itself, so I saw the outfield, and all of the memories came rushing back. So, I could not help but think what would happen next and that feeling was there for a couple of days. But then when I came to Pondicherry and saw the ground here, I thought that this is my chance now, this is it.”
Despite his time at Vidarbha coming to an end, he only has fond memories of his time there. So much so that his Instagram profile has a ‘Bye Vidarbha’ section of its own. Immediately below that, there is a pinned post, showcasing his maiden first-class hundred, the one mentioned not too long back.
Mohit recalled that knock fondly, but it hardly took him five seconds to switch to his favorite memory with Vidarbha which was the U-23 State A trophy triumph.
“To an extent, individually, I would rate that hundred as the finest moment of my career,” Mohit began. “ But, when we had won the U-23 title when our team was building, we were almost out in the league stage itself. I remember, that for us to qualify for the quarter-finals, Karnataka had to bowled out for 35 or something. That particular batch of young players, we were quite close, we had played together from a young age. Me, Jitesh, Darshan Nalkande, Atharva Taide, and Yash Thakur, all of us were thinking that the trophy was gone from our hands, but then they did end up getting bowled for 35 and we ended up beating Jammu and Kashmir and went onto win the trophy ”
Looking from a broad point of view, Vidarbha has been one of the most consistent and arguably prolific domestic sides in recent times. The side secured consecutive Ranji titles before the lockdown, and even made it to the finals of the most recent edition.
While silverware has eluded them when it comes to the white-ball events, they have been competitive and made it to the quarter-finals of both the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in the last season.
But success has come at a cost for the side as talented players like Mohit and Gurbani opted to seek opportunities elsewhere after the previous season ended. However, at the same time, they have been bolstered by Dhruv Shorey and Karun Nair’s addition to the squad.
Mohit broke down the reigning theme of players switching sides, placing it largely down to the prospect of opportunity, in his case, rather than the team atmosphere.
“I think everyone constantly thinks about opportunities and where they can get the most time in the playing XI,” Mohit opined. “I could have gotten more chances in Vidarbha if I stayed, but I felt that a switch presented a better opportunity and I think Rajneesh bhai also thought similarly. The atmosphere in Vidarbha cricket is good only, we have played through the junior levels together, so it all comes down to opportunities in my opinion.”
Despite making his first-class debut in the 2018-19 season, and playing senior-level cricket for quite a while, List-A cricket surprisingly continued to elude him. Even though he was part of the white-ball squad, he could not avail an opportunity. Vidarbha also had their hands tied with a stacked middle-order on the team sheet.
Now placed in Pondicherry smack dab in the middle of the off-season, and the Indian domestic season preparing for the white-ball festivities in the coming months, Mohit has his eyes set on the same, as he feels it is the best route to the Indian team in the present circuit.
"To a great extent my focus in Pondicherry will be white-ball cricket,” Mohit admitted. “I was in Vidarbha's white-ball teams, but I could not get the opportunity to play. I have worked a lot on why white-ball game for the past three years. Even in practice, I devote a lot of time to the white-ball stuff. Red ball is important too, very important, but how things are placed right now, white ball is the best route to get into the Indian team.”
Play it safe until you can’t: Mohit’s mantra for those considering a team switch
Countless others, along with Mohit, have left some major state associations during the off-season owing to a wide array of reasons. As mentioned above, it is far from an easy decision and there will be several players who will be on the fence regarding a potential switch.
Before parting, Mohit lent his opinion on how players should deal with intrusive thoughts about a switch, particularly when it concerns age and opportunity.
"If you are below 25 years of age, then I think that you should look to grind for one to two years, but once the age group ends, you become stuck in a zone, in a single place,” Mohit speaks from experience. “If you are getting better opportunities after that point, then I think you should take it, because teams, especially big teams like Vidarbha, in general, are settled and prefer to stay that way, so there are only a couple of spots up for grabs. If you are willing to fight for those limited spots then staying is an option, otherwise, you can leave.“
"The couple of years after 25-26 are very important because pretty much anything can happen. I have seen Shashank Singh, he has been in the IPL, and he is 32-33 years old, so that was quite inspirational,” Mohit added
When not toiling hard in the nets or traveling with the team for matches, Mohit focuses on his job at the Income Tax Department. Blessed with superiors who are empathetic of his journey, the side quest of sorts has become an asset instead of a hindrance.
"The Income Tax department has been very supportive during my journey,” Mohit expressed his gratitude. “ Like last year, I was part of the Vidarbha team that made it to the finals, and the people here are huge fans of sports, so they are quite understanding of my situation and easygoing as well, they grant me leave whenever I need it while playing or for practice. Security-wise also it is great because at the end of the month, I get credited with the salary, which is a huge relief!” Mohit signed off with a chuckle.
Mohit has taken matters into his own hands to ignite a spark, push the first domino, and get that extra burst of pace in the rat race, where there is no finish line for some.
Mohit Kale is represented by the Sports Management Company Square The One Sports.