December 2023. During India A Women's match against England A Women at the Wankhede Stadium, a 23-year-old asked a famous former first-class cricketer and coach an acute question: "Sir, why can't a youngster be a talent scout?"
No answer was forthcoming, and the two biggest barriers to one of the most important professions in cricket became clear; to be respected as a scout in India, you got to have playing experience and be old enough to look the part.
"He never expected that question," Nisarg Naik, now 24, recalls about the coach while sitting down in a chat with Sportskeeda over call.
Nisarg has spent his life on either side of that day trying to break those two barriers, relentlessly chasing his goal to be the youngest scout in the world.
Born in Mumbai, he was introduced to the concept when he was scouted to play Under-14 football for Maharashtra. He also played cricket, was a state Under-19 probable, and even a net bowler for IPL teams.
The experiences merged and he started approaching IPL scouts and learning the art by chatting with experts. Soon, he was traveling to women's domestic matches in Pondichery, Goa, and Vizag to observe players.
"I got that knowledge and my interest built up," he said. "It's just I love cricket... It's not just about watching matches. You've to be involved with them directly, understanding their potential and helping them grow. I just saw that this is a good thing, we should help players and just start."
In 2021, he co-founded a talent agency, All Stars Talent Management, recruiting some of his scouted players. A major part of his scouting ideals was planning for the Women's Premier League (WPL), which was set to launch in 2023.
Having built deep connections in the industry by then, he recommended some players to a couple of franchises ahead of the first WPL auction. The ideas were heard and bids made. Some of those players who were selected not only impressed in the WPL but have also made their debuts for India.
"Doing that at this age is I think my biggest achievement," Nisarg added.
In March this year, he transitioned to a Mumbai-based talent management company as a talent manager and head scout, giving him the status of one of the youngest, if not the youngest, scouts in the country.
How Nisarg scouts
Most of what Nisarg knows today is from hours of learning from his mentors. These include former India player and the current national women's Under-19 coach Nooshin Al Khadeer, former first-class cricketer and IPL scout Vinayak Samant, and known data analyst Ashutosh Paibhale.
"I've divided player identification into three things - scouting, coaching, and data analysis," he said. "I have covered all the aspects. I have acquired knowledge from coaching, scouting, and data analysis experts. Their different sectors help me too because after reaching out to them, I develop more connections from their circles."
When on the ground, his best friend is his notebook, which sees everything in ink that he sees with his eyes. It starts with spotting the obvious - is a player scoring runs outside the off-stump, is she getting out on the short ball, and so on.
"Then, I see how players play under pressure," he added. "If your team is 30/5, and from there if you are building an innings, no matter how many balls you take, if you are taking your team to a commendable total then you are doing well under pressure. Domestic and WPL are completely different. WPL has even more pressure, so can you handle that? Thirdly, I go with instinct. It's basically betting on a player. You have to play on instinct. You are recommending them to teams, and the team is taking that player on your bet. Other than that, it's about what's the team requirement. If you need a No. 6-7 or bowling all-rounders, then I specifically focus on those."
Other scouts use different methods -- some look for attitude, resilience, or mental toughness, and some focus on growth potential. It hasn't reached the WPL yet but a few IPL teams simply send their data analysts to domestic games as scouts.
In Nisarg's case, he uses more data than most of his more traditional counterparts. However, he believes and has been advised by Saba Karim, former India wicketkeeper and once Delhi Capitals' Head of Talent Search, that what his eyes can gauge from the field, a computer can never.
"Data is available mostly for international matches. Apart from that, the more you go to matches, the more you understand. So watching matches is absolutely necessary if you want to do scouting seriously. And you've to trust your instincts. Data review, performance consistency, areas of improvement, everything is important. But instinct and match-watching, are very important things," he continued.
The work doesn't end on the field; it almost only begins seriously when he's off the field. Here, Nisarg proudly says he is connected with about 90% of all domestic women cricketers in India, which takes a different set of skills.
"It's very challenging but very rewarding too," he says. "The more matches I cover, the more players I engage with. For me, it's not that we interacted today and now it's over. I am genuinely interested in their progress. I keep myself updated on what's happening later on. If they played well today, I ask what they did for it to happen, and if they played badly, then I ask what mistake they made. Building trust takes time but I keep it as my first priority."
The talent management part of his profession also comes into play here. As part of his agency work, he helps the signed players with matters like commercial deals, legal issues, and even advice on where and how to invest their money.
Earning respect
The higher up you go in the ladder of domestic to franchise competitions and international teams in cricket, the more exclusive scouting becomes to ex-cricketers. That's not the case in football where even the highest level of teams employ professional scouts who have little to no playing experience.
Its importance can't be overstated. New Zealand's John Wright scouted Jasprit Bumrah for Mumbai Indians, perhaps also why franchises are so risk-averse regarding it. For them, the easy way is to ask a former cricketer, whose runs and wickets stats form the portfolio, instead of trusting a youngster.
"If I tell someone about talent scouting, I have to first explain to them what it is," Nisarg said. "It's a very niche segment. And people laugh when I tell them I am India's youngest talent scout or one of India's youngest talent scout. When they laugh, I have to show them that it's also showing on Google! It's not about self-praise, but people should know about this. It's very niche in India, to be honest. Everything is difficult. But I have kept on giving solid recommendations and when it is successful, it helps develop trust and respect."
That's also why Nisarg has connected with a network of experts. Apart from the domestic cricketers, these coaches, analysts, and scouts know about his skill and vouch for it when they are chosen in WPL franchises.
He has also tried to flip the first-class experience disadvantage by finding scouting techniques convenient for domestic cricketers, who are often in his age group.
"Youngsters bring a new perspective. I think I have been able to bring better people-to-people connections by connecting players through social media. If I like someone, I directly connect with them... I ask them for more videos and then sit down to analyze. People overlook that your social media game can be this strong too!" he claimed.
Though niche, scouting has grown in popularity in women's cricket since the WPL was introduced. However, there's still an educational gap for youngsters because of a lack of clear pathways, which pushes some aspirants into purely talent management, where it's difficult to cover too many matches on the field.
Nisarg says the first requirement of being a scout is a passion to cover the game from the field, which has brought him this far too. But now that he's in the thick of it, is covering as many matches and gaining experience the only way to grow?
"Experience is invaluable but continuous learning is the key," Nisarg said. "If you are a scout, you are going to sit with different scouts and watch matches. You have to learn from other scouts and at the same time, use your own knowledge too. It's a trial-and-error method. You won't learn if you don't make mistakes. Taking feedback is also important, maybe from your mentors. Then, you have to understand the new trends in the sport and analyze past decisions -- what mistake did I make before that I shouldn't repeat."
In the short term, Nisarg says he wants to be a "game-changer" and not just a player in the field of scouting. He wants to expand his network of 90% domestic cricketers to 100% and "continuously discover and develop talent", by helping nurture them off the field even as they push their careers on it.
"In the long term, it's about making as much impact on women's cricket particularly," he explained. "I feel sportswomen in India have got immense unexplored potential. My job is to gather all my resources and bring a change to this. In the long term, I'll put it like this: If I was playing cricket, I would have represented the country as one individual. But now, I have the opportunity to help create more than one player who can represent the country. If that happens, I'll be happy."
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