Do you know whose bowling action was used as a logo for the ’99 world cup? Yeah! Debashish Mohanty is the idea behind the logo. One of the most intriguing aspects of Odiya cricketer was his smooth and eye-catching bowling action. So fascinating it was that it tempted the logo designers to accept it for their own sake. The designers included the end of his ball throwing action and incarnating it with multicolored brushstrokes showcasing the diversity represented by the 12 participating nations of the seventh multi-national event.

Born on this day in 1976 in Bhubaneshwar, this tall lanky pacer formed a formidable new-ball partnership with Venkatesh Prasad in the late ’90s and at the start of 21st century. It was the 9th of August back in the year 1997 when Mohanty did the unthinkable by becoming the first cricketer from Odisha to play for India. Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Saeed Anwar were a few of his first scalps. He would be most remembered for his match-winning spell against Pakistan in Toronto (3 for 15, 2nd ODI, Sahara Friendship Cup). Saeed Anwar, one of the best openers who represented Pakistan, had once confessed to Tendulkar that Mohanty was unplayable. The Odia boy had taken Saeed’s wicket in 3 matches in the Sahara Cup tournament 1997.

Keeping his repute with the logo he emerged as the second-highest wicket-taker for India in the world cup despite four games lesser than leading Indian wicket-taker – Javagal Srinath. His early scalps of Alec Stewart and Graeme Hick on consecutive deliveries against England in the tournament gave India the much-needed hope of advancing into the super-six of the tournament. His career-best performance of 4 for 56 came against Kenya in his only quadrennial tournament. This exploits came at the time when India lost it’s first two matches and needed to win all the remaining three matches to stay alive.

Well, the fluid action wasn’t going to last long for the international arena. As the Indian conditions were never apt for his bowling style and coming of Ajit Agarkar in the picture made it harder to cement his place. He just played a couple of test matches and donned the Indian jersey for a meager of 47 ODIs. Mohanty was dropped from the ODI side in 2001 and his dream run of International reckoning got an indefinite halt. In the domestic yard, Mohanty also represented Odisha and East Zone in the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy respectively.

Off the field, he is employed by NALCO, Bhubaneshwar. But as the saying “once a cricketer, always a cricketer.” Instead of burying down the cricket inside him, he took the path of spreading it by his coaching skills. He coached the Odisha Ranji team for a long seven-year period from 2011. The hero inside him pushed the East Zone team to create history by winning the Duleep trophy for the first time. In an interview, he said, “It is a very challenging job, but it is something I enjoy.  I wanted to continue my association with the game. It has been a pretty interesting journey so far.” These words show his impact on subsequent generations is unmatched. We can take a lot from his exhilarating life. His belief in himself of competing at the international level gives us the innate strength of pursuing our dreams.