From a Loan to IPL Trainer: The Inspiring Journey of Rajamani Prabhu

2023-06-22 02:30:07

“At one stage I had a loan of up to 50 lakh rupees. But, everything is a loan taken for studying. I studied, I studied hard. That’s the only reason I’m in this situation now…” This is another unknown side of Rajamani Prabhu, who used to play with cricketer Ashwin on his Instagram reels. I got a chance to talk to Prabhu Rajamani who made the entire IPL season go by like ‘Halla Bol… Nalla Bol…’.

Born in an ordinary family in Ramanathapuram. We moved to Bangalore for my father’s job. That’s where I started playing cricket instead of tennis. I was playing a good fast bowler. Unexpected turns happened in life. Father and mother unfortunately passed away. It was a great slave. It’s a situation where you don’t know what to do to move on in life. I thought I can’t survive on cricket alone. I made a plan to buy cows and milk them and sell them, so I did milk business for a while. One day I went to sell milk at my cricket coach Sadanand’s house. He was shocked to see me. He gave me a lot of advice saying that I cannot achieve in life by doing all this. He also got a job in the physical education department of a college. After going there, life started to change. I shouted a lot.

Ashwin, Rajamani Prabhu

It was then that the examination for fitness trainers was held at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. I got 3rd rank in India. Appoint me in charge of South Zone. I have trained 150 players at a time with 10 trainers under me. Everything went well.

But at one point, I felt stuck in one place. Just wanted to update myself. Contacted some Australian trainers. Through them I went to Australia and read about special programs for training players. Then, I completed a course to go to America. I don’t know english very well. When I study there, many people laugh and tease me because of my speaking style. But, I have only one thing running through my mind. Become the number 1 trainer in the world. I worked like crazy. Rajamani smiled and talked about the IPL and the players.

“Everyone started to know me only after appearing in Aswinoda’s video. I have known Ashwin for 10 years. I was his trainer in his early days. A very strong person mentally. He has the power to recover from any slump. During the time of Corona, Ashwin was desperate to give a comeback to the Indian team. At that time when the town was paralyzed, we took special permission and went to practice. Ashwin gave usurak and practiced. As a result of that, he is still playing super. I think Ashwin is the right person for cinema. I told him many times to make a good comedy film like ‘Halla Bol… Nalla Bol’.

Rajamani Prabhu

Apart from Ashwin, I have trained many Tamil Nadu players like Balaji, Badrinath, Murali Vijay. Badrinath was not picked up in the Chennai team’s auction and was very disappointed. That’s when I joined him for a 15-day diet and gave him rigorous training. It gave him a new lease of life. He later played for RCB. Not everyone can handle Murali Vijay in Asia. He wakes up suddenly in the middle of the night and says it’s like training. But, Sema is a determined person”, the narrator shared his experiences with the Rajasthan team.

“Malinga and Sangakkara are all very nice in the Rajasthan team. Sankara is of Tamil background. His favorites are cantaloupe fries and old rice. Malinga is the opposite. He only knows the word ‘Thangachi’ in Tamil. Ask him why. Semaya will be. Sanju Samson is a very inspiring brother. He said, ‘We can send a good Audi to the number one team’, he said, ‘We will do whatever it takes to make this team number one’. Not only that, he spends crores from his own salary for the development of players. For me the next Dhoni is Sanju! The result has been a bit of a disappointment for us this season. But, we will come back with a big impact in the next season” says Rajamani Prabhu firmly.