Hyderabad’s Diliep hogs limelight as India fielding coach

BCCI posts a video of the best fielder ceremony that is held in the dressing room. The man behind this innovative show is Hyderabad's TK Diliep, the fielding coach

Hyderabad: One of the interesting features in this ongoing World Cup is that after every Indian win – seven on the trot – BCCI posts a video of best fielder ceremony that is held in the dressing room. The man behind this innovative show is Hyderabad‘s TK Diliep, the fielding coach.

The videos have gone viral and there is tremendous interest among the team members to know the winner of the best fielder medal. The fielders celebrate when taking a good catch and enact the medal ceremony act on the field. At Pune, Ravindra Jadeja, after taking a brilliant catch atcpoint, pointed his finger towards Diliep of him getting the award or for instance in Thursday’s match at Wankhede Stadium, Shubman Gill gesture of putting the medal around Jadeja’s neck after the later’s catch at point. The team members are celebrating each other’s success.

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 In the last match at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, it was the legendary Sachin Tendulkar who announced the best fielder award to Shreyas Iyer in a video message and Diliep has been doing it in a very innovative way ever since he introduced it from the first match in this World Cup. Tendulkar even praised Diliep and remembered India’s campaign in 2003 which was written on the chart in the dressing room of the team members achievement.

There is a buzz around till the announcement is made after the match is over in this World Cup. This new idea was to bring competitiveness among the players and motivate them to elevate their fielding standards. This was done by the team management after a poor performance on the field during the recent series against Australia. The medal serves as a symbol of excellence and has become a coveted prize among Indian cricketers.

For Diliep, who succeeded his fellow City coach Ramakrishna Sridhar, this World Cup is one of the biggest challenges. Having won the confidence of Rahul Dravid, Diliep has become a vital cog in the Indian team along with Vikram Rathour (batting coach) and Paras Mhambrey (bowling coach).

Starting his journey as fielding coach for the Indian A team in 2019, the 42-year-old Diliep has grown in stature. He said in a talk then that he always felt excited to get an opportunity to work with the elite players.  Diliep has always looked up to his predecessor Sridhar. “He helped me with new ideas on fielding drills.’’

A bowling all-rounder, Diliep played in A-Division for Cheerful, New Blues and Deccan Chargers but he had the passion for coaching from a young age. “I wrote my level 1 examination in 2004, it was more about me getting an idea of the mechanism of the game and after I cleared that examination, I became more interested in coaching. I thought I needed to develop my knowledge of the game,’’ he said then in 2019.

Diliep was the coach from the Hyderabad Under-14 state team and also coached the Hyderabad Ranji side.  “I have to thank the Hyderabad Cricket Association for giving me an opportunity to work with the various teams. It helped me to learn about coaching. It also gave me an opportunity to work with our senior coaches who have helped me a lot. However, the turning point was when I worked as fielding coach for Deccan Chargers (now defunct) for three years under Trevor Penny and Mike Young in the IPL. It actually gave me good exposure.’’

Vijay Mohan Raj, former Hyderabad opener and presently the Director of Hyderabad Cricket Academy, said Diliep has always been a keen observer of the game. “He is energetic and enthusiastic. He has the work ethics to excel.’’