Choudhary: Call of nation

Ranchi, Aug. 17: The former ?super cop? will have his task cut out when the Men in Blue travel to Zimbabwe for a triangular one-day series and a couple of Test outings.

Amitabh Choudhary, chief of the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) and now manager of Team India for its African challenge, has indeed come a long way from his IPS days.

The 1984 batch IPS officer was bitten by the cricket bug six years ago when he was the senior superintendent of police, Ranchi. The man in uniform was set to use his administrative skills to enter the world of willow.

Since then, cricket has been the important aspect of Choudhary?s life, feel his close aides.

His first cricketing dream was realised when Choudhary was elected to the head of the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) in 2001. He went on to head the Cricket Association of Jharkhand (CAJ) after the dissolution of the BCA. But due to technical reasons, the dissolved BCA was revived so that Jamshedpur could host an India-West Indies ODI.

Subsequently, the JSCA came into being to facilitate affiliation with the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), a move considered a masterstroke by Choudhary, who was heading the revived BCA.

Besides the JSCA, Choudhary also heads the Ranchi District Cricket Association (RDCA).

Part II of the dream was realised when Choudhary was nominated manager of the national junior team for a triangular series in Pakistan. Left arm fast bowler Irfan Pathan shot into the limelight during that tour after taking nine wickets in a match against Bangladesh.

Choudhary?s initiative ensured a historic walk through the Wagah border for the Indian team. A senior policeman of Pakistan helped him in this. It also allowed the Indian players to return home before the scheduled date and the BCCI had to pay less for the return trip as well.

Though his big dream of managing Team India has come true, his associates feel that the man wants to achieve a lot more.

The Indian team is scheduled to leave for Zimbabwe on August 22. The third team in the tri-nation series will be New Zealand.