Suryakumar Yadav’s first coach is near-jobless

You may have seen Suryakumar Yadavrsquos childhood coach Ashok Aswalkar featuring in the Cadbury advertisement during IPL17 as part of the confectionery giantrsquos special campaign on coaches who made the starsBut the story of Indiarsquos fulltime T20 captainrsquos early mentor Aswalkar 61 hasnrsquot been sweet of late Last December he was removed from his curator and coach job at the Anushaktinagar Sports Management Committee ASMC ground in Chembur where he served for 24 years earning Rs 26000 per month and Rs 15000 for his respective rolesHe now coaches at an indoor turf in Chembur which fetches him R10000 per month attendees depending ldquoI joined the BARC Bhabha Atomic Research Centre ground in 198990 and was assisting Jagannath Phanse as a groundsman and coach I started at a monthly salary of R3000 and when they ASMC discontinued my services in December 2023 I was getting R26000 per month for the groundsman job and R15000 for coaching from a coaching agencyrdquo Aswalkar told midday on SundayFamily unawareThough the television commercial gave him joy and the world came to know of him very few knew that he was enduring his lifersquos biggest crisis ldquoI didnrsquot even tell my family members that I had lost my job I just messaged Surya to say that I lost my job and told him who was responsible for this damage Surya in response stopped entertaining that particular personrdquo Aswalkar saidHe related the chain of events ldquoI went to attend my nephewrsquos wedding in Malvan with prior intimation They ASMC asked me to meet them on my return on December 31 I did so but no one spoke to me during my threehour visit I was then told via a message to return home and I would be called again This was humiliating When I was told to visit the place a week later no one met me again After one month I got a message at my home that few ASMC members wanted to meet me at the ground I met and spoke with Mr Ramakant Sahu and two other committee members there They asked me questions and listened carefully to what I saidAlso Read Childhood coach Ashok Aswalkar opens up on Suryakumar Yadavs captaincy appointmentNo proper communicationldquoThe committee members said they will get in touch with me soon but till date no one has communicated with me The last salary I drew was Rs 26911 in December 2023Meanwhile ASMC incharge Sahu told midday ldquoAshok was working with us till last season But something happened mdash some confusion on his part and some other part We tried to continue with him but then he was unhappy for some reason and suddenly disappeared in the middle of a cricket tournament Ashok said he is going to his hometown for some work but for three to four weeks he was not responding to phone callsrdquoSahu claimed that someone had misguided Aswalkar and ASMC would be ldquovery happyrdquo to continue with himldquoIn fact we will be honoured to hire him as a coach He was here for years decades We are trying to convince him to just be with us and next season mdash from October mdash he will get a fulltime curatorcumcoaching jobrdquo said SahuBut a hurt Aswalkar seems to have other plans ldquoI am coaching youngsters in an indoor turf facility at Chembur now I spoke with Surya about starting a cricket academy and he gave me a positive reply We both want to provide coaching to needy youngsters Money was never a priority for us and it will not be in the futurerdquo Aswalkar signed off Surya now has a new task as Indiarsquos fulltime T20 captain and his dear coach Aswalkar is looking at a new challenge as well Hopefully it will end up being sweet