It’s always a bad idea to stop a bowler in his run-up, especially a pacer who is hungry for wickets. Batsmen do that on the field to upset a bowler’s rhythm, a policeman did that to Munaf Patel at the team hotel. But for the security official, it wasn’t gamesmanship and the pacer’s hunger was of the gastronomical kind.

“Where are you going?” Munaf was asked as he ventured out with teammate Ramesh Powar late this afternoon after a hectic net session just two days before the key game against West Indies. Four years ago, when Munaf, after playing age-cricket and while travelling with the Gujarat Ranji Trophy team, asked for a transfer to Mumbai, he was asked a similar question by the local association.

But despite the pressure from Gujarat Cricket Association to stay back, Munaf moved on. And now as he gets ready for Thursday’s Champions Trophy game at Motera — his first in his home state — fellow players and local officials walked down memory lane with the star, who was once their own but has now drifted away.

Despite the bonhomie, it is an embarrassing return for the prodigal son. The local officialdom has put Munaf in a spot at times. His under-22 coach Rajeev Desai takes care of the Men in Blues’ transport, his Ranji coach Anil Patel is India’s local manager and a former Ranji captain who played alongside Munaf is in charge of Gate 8 from where the stars enter. The men who helped the raw speedster from Ikhar take his first steps in big-time cricket have been reduced to minders after Munaf’s meteoric rise.

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