Alok Sarkar a complete player: "It is difficult for me to accept that he's no longer with us," Subhashis Choudhury

By Subhashish Choudhury

I can’t recall the exact year, probably during the late 80s, I met Alok Sarkar for the first time. He was a player in the junior team at that time. During the initial days of net practice sessions, I fathomed his caliber as a great cricketer. His bowling was a great show of speed and precision. Within a few days, he became one of Amu da’s (Amal Das, ex-Ranji Star) favorites.

He was majorly a pace bowler in the junior team. Amu da guided him from the beginning and soon enough, under his coaching, Alok improved his batting skills as well. Though Amu da taught each one of us, his students, with the same dedication and responsibility, Alok was his favorite.

Alok and I have known each other for more than three decades. We played together for a long time and shared great dynamics. It has been difficult for me to accept that he is no longer among us. He suffered a lot in the past couple of years because of health issues. As cheerful as he was, he used to encourage the team on the ground and uplift the spirit. He used to give his best consistently, however difficult the match might seem to be. He was an all-rounder in every sense. Be it slip or gully, deep square leg or cover, he displayed great competence everywhere. He was truly a great team-player, not an ounce of arrogance. He never denied a single direction of mine when the team was under my captaincy. Used to bat whenever and however I asked him to.

We both have played under one another’s captaincies. He had high regards for the senior members of the club as well. Alok, the late Mehbub Alom and I had played in the Town Club for many years together. When Alok was the captain, he used to take suggestions from us every time before taking a major decision for the team. Team’s welfare and development has always been his priority. He has been a consistent performer in both club and district-level matches. He never failed to impress by his outstanding bowling, and also portrayed prowess in batting and fielding as well. He was an example of a true winner. Not only in the field, we shared great bonding outside of work also.

He has proved to be a fabulous coach for the team. With his astounding man-management and cricket skills, he has surely improved the performance of the whole team. He identified the strengths and weak points of a player accurately and coached the particular student to better himself and thus, the team. He could precisely estimate and handle any match-situation. Alok was one of the most brilliant cricketers witnessed by me in my career and there can never be an alternative for him. He could have earned himself great fame after retirement as a coach. He had much more to contribute to cricket, but fate did not align with him to make it possible.

Alok Sarkar was one of the best cricketers and an amazing human being, who may not be physically present today, but will always be remembered by Silchar for his contribution to cricket.