Tarak Sinha

Sinha founded the Sonnet Cricket Club in 1969 after he failed to get selected in Delhi's junior team for the CK Nayudu Trophy. The club was started at the grounds of Birla School in Kamla Nagar, where he studied and played cricket as a wicket-keeper. He worked as a clerk at the PGDAV College at the same time. With an initial batch of 20-odd trainees and minimum facilities, the club did not get affiliation with the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA). The club was shifted to Ajmal Khan Park in Karol Bagh in order to allow cricketers from other parts of the city to be trained. Followed by victories over more prominent clubs and participation in major tournaments, the club got DDCA affiliation in 1971 and was promoted from D division to A division.[3] The club then shifted to Rajdhani College where it got better facilities.[4]

The club went on to win all major trophies over the years. It also formed a rivalry with the National Institute of Sport (NIS) which was run by the government and had much better facilities.[3] According to Atul Wassan, "NIS catered to rich kids mainly and Sonnet encouraged boys from middle and lower middle class."[5] In early-2000s the club moved to Sri Venkateswara College in Delhi University's South Campus, which remains its base as of 2020.[2] Several cricketers who got trained at the club in the past help Sinha run the club.[6]

International cricketers who trained under Sinha at the club:

• Surinder Khanna[2]
• Randhir Singh[2]
• Manoj Prabhakar[3]
• Raman Lamba[3]
• Ajay Sharma[3]
• Sanjeev Sharma[3]
• Atul Wassan[2]
• Anjum Chopra[2]
• Ashish Nehra[3]
• Aakash Chopra[3]
• Shikhar Dhawan[2]
• Rishabh Pant[7]

The Board of Control for Cricket in India appointed Sinha as the coach of Delhi, and under him the team won its fourth Ranji title in 1985–86 season.[2] In 2001–02, he was appointed head coach of the national women's team, when Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami were in their debut international seasons.[8] The team went on to win its first overseas Test series, in South Africa, and beat England 4–0 at home during his tenure. In 2002, he was appointed to coach Delhi junior teams; the state won tournaments in under-15, under-19 and under-22 age groups.[4]

The Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) sought Sinha's services as the board of director of its academies in 2010. He was part of Rajasthan's journey from the Plate Division to its first-ever Ranji trophy title in the 2010–11 season. After his ouster from the RCA, he was appointed as the coach of another Plate Division team, Jharkhand, whom he guided to the Ranji knockouts for the first time in the 2012–13 season.[2]