My mentor, my captain, my brother – those are the three words by which I would describe Deepak Sharma.
I have known him since his starting days as an Executive Trainee at NTPC in 1983. He is a gold medallist from AMU, and besides being a brilliant electrical engineer, is an extraordinary gentleman, a trustworthy human being, and a true friend.
I have known another side of Deepak that others won’t know if they haven’t played cricket with him. He is an outstanding left-arm spin bowler. In fact, he was the captain of the NTPC National Power Sector Cricket team of which I was a part…
He was a key player and played pivotal roles in many games, picking up vital wickets and bundling out the opponent team for a very low score, which helped us win many games under his captaincy. In fact, we rarely lost any match under his captaincy.
He was an astute captain and meticulously planned and strategized before and during the game. He had a never-die attitude and never gave up the match until the last ball was delivered.
I remember that once he asked me to put on the wicket-keeping gloves after I had completed my opening spell along with another of our outstanding all-rounder members of the squad, Prahlad Ramrakhiani
Deepak had all the marks of a good captain. He maintained discipline and brotherhood in the team.
The NBCC Cricket Tournament, TERI Tournament, NTPC Intra projects Tournaments, and finally, making it to the NTPC National Power sector team – these are just a few of the accolades we earned as a team under his captaincy, which just illustrates how great a player and a captain Deepak Sharma was.
We parted ways as colleagues a long time back, but the relationship we forged as friends and teammates on the cricket field continues to this day and will continue to remain forever – only death shall do us apart on this planet.