Rohit Sharma and Shardul Thakur propose Dinesh Lad's name for Dronacharya Award

New Delhi: Indian cricket owes a lot to Dinesh Lad, who has shaped two stalwarts-Rohit Sharma and Shardul Thakur-both play for the national team.

Sharma and Thakur have proposed the name of their coach for the Dronacharya Award, it is learnt.

The Dronacharya Award is given to an outstanding coach in sports in honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after Drona, often referred as "Dronacharya" or "Guru Drona", a character from the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata of ancient India.

Lad first saw talent in both and enrolled them in Swami Vivekanand International School in Gorai, Borivali, the western suburb of Mumbai. Both bloomed under his watchful eyes.

To-day, Lad's immense love and passion for the game has made him very popular among coaches.

Once he finds the boy's talent and dedication, he never hesitates "to adopt". The most remarkable thing about him is he is not coaching the boys to earn money.

To all his students, Dinesh Lad is what late Ramakant Achrekar was to Sachin Tendulkar.

Many of his students have made it to the Mumbai team and have been making headlines in the newspapers.