JOIN USVishesh Briguwanshi was made captain of the Indian men’s Senior basketball team when he was only 18-years-old.
It was a move which drew a lot of flak at that time but nearly four years later, it’s easy to see why the responsibility was entrusted upon him.
Briguwanshi is not the biggest person on the court and nor does the 6’’4’ winger-turned-point-guard look the fastest as he paces himself around with little haste. But when he sees an open lane to drive on, he bursts forth at break-neck speeds.
A quality drive, strategic defence and an impeccable form on the shot, make him one of the most sought after players in the Indian circuit, and, perhaps, only one in the current set-up who is within sniffing distance of making his mark abroad. “There was a basketball court right in front of my house and that’s when I got hooked to it,” said the Varanasi-born cager after putting up a stellar show in ONGC, Uttarakhand’s 58-51 win over IOB in the 27th Federation Cup basketball championship at the Sree Kanteerava stadium on Friday. “Five days after playing there, I played in a district tournament and from there on I never stopped playing.”
Briguwanshi first made his mark as a shooting-guard at the Sub-Junior Nationals in 2001 with his scoring abilities but his knack of knowing when to make the play with the shot-clock winding down caught everyone’s attention.
“In the Sub-Junior Nationals, I was coached by Ram Kumar and that was a big learning curve. Also Trideep (Rai), who is playing on this team, is someone who worked extensively with me when I made it to the Senior team and taught me how to play,” said the 22-year-old. “He (Trideep) has a lot of exposure and that rubbed on me.”
Talking about being appointed as the skipper of the Senior team despite the presence of a number of seniors, Briguwanshi said: “What can I say!? I was very surprised. I told them that there were so many seniors, but they insisted that I could be the captain. I spoke to Trideep about it and he said ‘there is nothing to worry about’ so from there on I have taken on the responsibility and done alright.”
Briguwanshi’s presence, aided by NBA’s development programme, has helped the team improve by leaps and bounds as they qualified and took part in the Asian Games basketball tournament after 28 years but they still have not been able to cut their teeth against international teams and that is something the youngster has been looking forward to.
“The NBA league has really helped us. We have worked a lot on our game and it has improved. We can go further, it is only a matter of time,” said the Indian Railways’ player.