"Focussed on improving conversion rate this year": Q&A with Ranji Trophy star Sudip Chatterjee

Sudip Chatterjee in action for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy

A little farther ahead of the Kolkata Airport, exists Barasat. A township that till about a decade or so ago was deemed sleepy and unattractive by a lot of people living amidst the hubbub of activity in Kolkata. Barasat was for that romantic drive, or for that sumptuous bite from one of the long list of dhabas en route. It's a different matter altogether that Barasat possesses a rich history of its own dating back to the 1600s. Warren Hastings, Bankim Chatterjee, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, almost everyone has had a fling or two with this town.

The gradual failure to keep the population under check has forced the metro folks to look for newer places to live in. Who doesn’t want clean air and empty roads. So slowly Barasat is becoming this town with shopping malls, private colleges and eateries mushrooming everywhere. While more and more Kolkata people head towards this urban setup, a Barasat boy is doing big things in Kolkata (and in different parts of the country).

Sudip Chatterjee, likes hanging out with friends and watching movies. He prefers to meditate before matches and harps upon the importance of focus and processes. Mild-mannered and soft-spoken, he is nothing like your modern day tattoo-flashing cricketer. But he knows a thing or two about batting.

Playing for his home state of Bengal, Chatterjee has notched up more than 700 runs at an average of nearly 55 in the league phase of this year’s Ranji Trophy, and has played the most number of deliveries out of the top ten run-getters. He has four match-defining hundreds to his name, and is now looking to make it big at the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy.

I caught up with him, just before he left for Rajkot, here’s what Bengal cricket’s star had to say:

How are you feeling about how this season has shaped up for Bengal? Last season, the team nearly got relegated - but this time, apart from Mumbai, Bengal is the only team to have remained unbeaten in the competition.

It feels really good to see the team playing this well. There were expectations, considering that we didn't play that well last year. This year from the first game to the last, we have played well. Now the focus will be on ensuring that the momentum stays when we play the important knockout games. We have to forget whatever we have achieved till now, and approach the knockouts as a fresh challenge.

Is it a concern that the domestic limited overs matches, being played in between the first-class season, can break this momentum you are talking of?

I wouldn't really call it a concern, because in cricket one always has to adjust and take up challenges. So you can call this break (between Ranji league & knockouts) a challenge for us. Eventually, all teams will be in a similar situation, all the eight teams will be playing the quarter-finals after playing limited overs, so it will be interesting to see how the teams manage to get back into Ranji mode.

Speaking of Ranji, your season has gone off quite well. More than seven hundred runs, one of the only two batsmen to score four centuries. But unlike the last time when you scored so heavily for Bengal, this time, there's a lot of talk about your performances. So have you attempted something different this time around that has made people sit up and take notice of your scores?

The major difference has been the Vision 2020 program that was launched by Cricket Association of Bengal before this season began. We had VVS Laxman as a batting consultant, alongside Sourav Ganguly, who also guided us. Both of them have spoken a lot about the mental aspect of scoring runs and have shared their own experiences. These things have helped me a lot.

It seems so, because if you see, last time around, you were getting out in the nineties a lot of times. But this season, you've grasped the art of converting your eighties and nineties into centuries. Has there been some conscious effort put into this by you?

Absolutely, and it is not just about the nineties. I have told myself that every time I get set a bit, be it in in the thirties or forties, I should be looking at converting it into a hundred. Last year, this conversion is where I was failing. So this year, I have focused a lot to improve upon that.

For our readers, I would want to know what exactly is it that goes through a batsman's mind when he approaches a century, that he ends up getting out. Especially in the case of relatively younger and inexperienced cricketers such as you. Could you pinpoint a reason for this happening?

I don't see this as a technical problem, because if one is good enough to score eighty, he is good enough to score a hundred. An issue with technique will see batsmen get out early on in their innings. I think here it’s more about the mental aspect. How much can I keep my focus at that stage? How long can I keep the hunger alive for scoring more runs? These are the things if taken care of, can take a batsman towards big scores.

Out of all your centuries this season, I think the one that you will be really proud of is the one you scored against Karnataka. You were batting when Bengal was at a difficult stage, and you managed to stitch a 200-plus run partnership with Wriddhiman Saha. Take us through what you were thinking then.

The team was in trouble at 41/4, the talk with Wriddhi da at that time was about a big partnership being the need of the hour. At the same time, we were also looking at stitching small scores, and taking the partnership forward in parts, rather than looking too ahead of ourselves. That strategy paid off well eventually.

That knock of mine came in the first game of the season, and that helped in boosting my confidence a lot. Something that stayed with me for the rest of the seven games.

Now that you have some kind of a momentum on your side, you would like to convert this start into your limited-overs performances as well. But I read somewhere that you are reluctant to change your game-style just to get an IPL contract. What about it?

I didn't say I won't adapt if needed. What I said is something I had read in one of Rahul Dravid's interviews - that if one can play the longer version of the game well then automatically the confidence helps in performing in one-days and T20s as well, you know when you have the backing of first-class runs under your belt. Hopefully if I can carry on my good performances with the bat, I will have the confidence to improvise my game for T20s as well.

You are yet to make your IPL debut, and you should be hopeful of making it this time around. However, if by any chance, you fail to land an IPL contract this time around as well - will you take it as a disappointment or would you do something like Pujara did, that is, go play County Cricket?

There's nothing to be disappointed about, as life offers many chances. I will try to play even better, as I am of the strong belief that if one plays well, everything falls into place. Focusing on what is in hand takes care of whatever isn't. But I will back myself to do well in IPL or any limited overs format, if you remember in the last Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, I scored a 90 for my team [89 off 52 balls vs Tripura].

So again, you do not have any problem in adapting to roles that are different from the defensive style of play that you display currently?

Absolutely not, I will hopefully be able to adapt to any circumstance.

Does it at times hurt you, that despite performing, a cricketer from Bengal seldom gets the kind of buzz a cricketer from other parts of the country generates with similar performances?

This doesn't hurt me, in fact, it motivates me that I need to perform even better to get noticed. It also gives me a sense of purpose that scoring more runs will make sure that people are forced to talk about me.

It's great to see that a lot of people following Bengal cricket are comparing you to Sourav Ganguly, more so because you too, are a left-hander. How do you respond to such things?

*Laughs* This is a faaltu (rubbish) topic. There are absolutely no grounds for comparison here. I don't want to say anything about it at all.

In one or two places you've said how you aren't as elegant as Ganguly...

*Laughs* Like I said, I am humbled, but there's no room to discuss this comparison.

Bengal's team for the Vijay Hazare trophy has a lot of international cricketers - Manoj Tiwary, Ashok Dinda, Wriddhiman Saha, and now, Mohammed Shami will be joining the squad as well. He's been out of action for a while. What's the latest on him, is he raring to go?

I don't have much of an update on him currently, will get to know once the squad assembles in Rajkot on Monday. But its a big plus that Shami will be playing the one-dayers for us. He is a terrific player to have in your team.

If I were to ask you, who is that one cricketer who you admired while growing up. Who would that be?

Obviously Sachin Tendulkar. I have religiously followed his game ever since I was a child. You can say he's my idol. Another person who I really like watching bat is Kumara Sangakkara.

What's your life when you aren't playing cricket?

I like spending time with my friends, most of whom are ones I play with. I like the adda with them, going out for movies - it's quite enjoyable.

And lastly, where do you want to see yourself two years from now?

I dream to play Tests for India, and it stays in the back of my mind. But I try to keep my mind on what needs to be done today, be it in a game or at practice. That's where the focus is. The process needs to be correct for the right target to be achieved.