Rocky Bosskey TNPL Mystery Spinner

30years ago, many cricketers moved on in life away from cricket once they found they had not made much headway into the first division by the time they were 20. Quite a few who had made their way into first division teams gave themselves a few years more to try and play in the prestigious Buchi Babu tournament. And then those who managed to get through to this stage gave themselves a couple of more years to see if they could break through into the Ranji Squad. Those who did not (make it into Buchi Babu or Ranji) got into the corporate work life aged 25-27 and have focused on the work world since. Those who quit cricket at 20 had a heads up of a few years in the corporate world while the latter ones lost out a few years starting out only after 25.

2021 - Cricketing life has taken a dramatic turn that very few from that generation would be ready to believe. Rag Vasisht (who now calls himself as Rocky and has regd his name as so in the Gazette), son of former South Zone University cricketer B Bhaskar (Bosskey) is starting his real cricket at 27, the time when once cricketers quit the sport for corporate life. 

Bosskey himself had suddenly risen to great heights playing against Ravi Shastri and Co. but he fell as quickly as he rose. Into his early 20s, Bosskey picked up a job at IOB and quit cricket before he had turned 25 and did not play for IOB in the first division even through the 1980s. 

How life and attitude has changed in the last few decades!! Rocky graduated in Sociology but has not stepped into the corporate world todate, though he is now into his late 20s. 

He had picked up 8 wickets in his debut league match in the third division for Port Trust. Following in his father’s footsteps, he too chose leg spin and the 8 wickets led one to believe that like his father he too may see a dramatic rise in cricket. But the script did not turn out as expected. For a major part of the next decade, it has been a tale of cricketing frustration. While he was signed up by first division clubs, he did not get to play many matches. For five years, he sat on the sidelines in the top division but surprisingly his father, who settled down at IOB when he was just 22 and quit serious cricket very early, gave him a rope so long that the son is not looking to get into a non cricket related job in his life!!!

Is he serious? Bosskey says that he himself could not justify his talent though the expectation was very high during his playing days and when the ball just did not land where he wanted to, he was overcome with frustration and quit too early for anyone's liking. And he does not want a repeat of that with his son and has given him a lifetime to prove himself as a worthy cricketer.

After failing to get chances in the longer version of the game for several years, a spark lit up suddenly when Rocky was watching Sunil Naraine bowl in the IPL. And all of a sudden he moved away from the traditional leggie to the now talk of the town tag of ‘mystery spinner’!!! He changed the way he gripped the ball and began testing out his skills in the seven star local league where cricket enthusiast Prabhu (not this writer) provided him opportunities with the new ball. And it seemed that a new cricketer was born, one who was completely unrecognizable from the traditional leggie of the previous years. 

Watching Naraine closely, he began trying out the variations that have now come to be typical of ‘mystery’ spinners. And it was with this mystery spin that he impressed Ranji cricketer KB Arun Karthik at the nets. Impressed with his skills and the variations, Arun Karthik asked him to keep it under wraps and not expose himself publicly with his new style of bowling. When it came to picking up the squad for this year’s TNPL, Arun Karthik picked him for Madurai. It is to date his biggest achievement of his life after his performance in his debut league season  just under a decade ago!!!

He has been working hard for the last many months trying out several variations. He met with the more famous Mystery Spinner of TN, Varun Chakravarthy also of Madurai in the TNPL, to learn a few tricks of mystery spin. 

Varun’s emergence from nowhere to the IPL and India on the wrong side of his 20s has given confidence to those like Rocky to extend their cricket career into the late 20s. It is the new gen and they are seemingly strong enough to take bold calls and now more so with the backing of parents who themselves in their playing days gave up far too quickly to settle down in a stable job.

Rocky played a couple of matches in the TNPL, took a wicket in his first over in his debut match and  was then given the opportunity to bowl within the first powerplay in the next match. At 27, he has just two top matches to showcase but with his new found mystery spin variations, he is hopeful and confident that he can emerge as the next top mystery spinner after Varun. 

With Madurai not qualifying for the knock out, his stint with this year’s TNPL has ended. Over the next fortnight he will look for a team in the first division league that is set to start early next month.

There was a time when bowlers were asked to practice pitching the ball on the same spot over and over again. Today, no two balls should pitch on the same spot. 

Clearly, the new gen cricketer is not interested anymore in bowling 30-40overs in the first division league as was the case till not so long ago. As a mystery spinner, his aim is to bowl 24balls in a T20 match or maybe 60balls in a one day match to spring a web around the batsmen with his variations in the shorter duration game.

Bosskey is clear that his son should be seen as a full time professional cricketer whose future lies in cricket and not in the corporate world. The handsome young man has had offers from the cine world but he has remained focussed on the cricket field and believes that is where his life is.

Rocky is highly spiritual and balanced and has belief in Kanchi Maha Periyava’s preachings. He is clear that his role is to give his best when the opportunities come his way and allow the special mystery spinning skills to speak for itself. He is adding to his variations and with the TNPL confidence behind him, is likely to become better. Time will tell if he will be able to break into the first division team based on his performances in these two TNPL matches. Will the first division clubs find his mystery options and the ability to bowl leg spin with the new ball an exciting option?

It is a big call to almost start a cricket career at his age. But Rocky is on Cricket Mission II. As Varun has proved in the last couple of years and with someone like Natarajan reaching the top in a short space of time, Rocky is hopeful that he too can break the time barrier and catapult to the top with a few match winning performances in the tournaments that come his way over the next 6-12months.

This section will watch his progress.