NEW DEHLI (India) - The past few months have been a much-needed break away from basketball to be with the family for Vishesh Bhriguvashi. He's been gardening and spending quality with his one-year-old son.

Still, he was more than glad to about basketball and his playing experience with FIBA Asia Cup on Instagram.

Check out the full discussion with Bhriguvashi on IGTV.

 

Bhriguvashi, the man they call "Baba", traced back to his basketball origin story and talked about having a basketball right in front of his house. With the persuasion of the local coach and his brother, Bhriguvanshi slowly got interested and it stuck with him to help him become who he is today.

Growing up, he looked up to LeBron James as a childhood hero as well as some other local hoopers.

"There were a few senior players from my hometown [in Varanasi]," he said. "Like Trideep Rai, he was one of the players who used to play for the national team. My brother. There were some other players also and when I saw them playing basketball for the senior Indian team, it was very inspiring for me to see that if they are playing, I should also play."

Visheh got his first chance to represent the nation, albeit at the youth level, in 2006 during the FIBA U18 Asian Championship. That was the moment that made him realize that he wanted to pursue basketball in the long run.

"When I played there and came back, I realized that there's something I can do with basketball," he said. "I started practicing like I wanted to play for the senior Indian team. As you know, I started playing [on the senior national team] after that and from there, it gave me the spark that I should play basketball and that I'm made for this."

Bhriguvashi then made his senior national team debut in 2008. He recalled his first basket as a member of the senior national team against Jordan - a midrange jumper late in the fourth quarter - as well as just being in awe of their star Rashiem Wright.

"I was like 'Man, why isn't he playing in the NBA? He's so good, he can do everything'. That was my reaction to my teammate and he was like 'focus on the match!' But I was serious about that. Wright played so well, when I saw him play, he was so awesome."

The next year in 2009, played in the Asia Cup for the first time. He's played in five Asia Cups since, but he'll never forget that first time, that first game and the experience that came with it.

"We played the first match against China and we lost one-sided," he said. "After that, I was like 'Man, it's so tough to play at that level'."

"I was very angry and I was very curious to learn so many things. From my childhood, I always wanted to learn so many new things. Like it's not that I should only have 2-3 skills. No, I should have so many skills and people should know me for that."

"So in 2009, the first match happened and we lost. After that, we had a match against Kazakhstan and I still remember I made around [26] points and we lost by [2] points."

"After that game, [coach] was like 'You have grown up, huh? You understand now how to play in the senior national team'. But I was like 'No coach, I'm actually just trying to learn and get an experience like how others are playing. For me, it was so much good experience over there in 2009. I saw some big-time players playing there like I had just honestly seen them on Youtube and hear their names, so for me it was very huge."

From there, Bhriguvanshi developed himself to be one of India's biggest stars which gave him the opportunity to play in many Asia Cups. Whether it was Asia Cup 2013 in Manila or Asia Cup 2015 in Changsha, Bhriguvanshi had fond memories of playing at this stage.

"Playing over there in that stadium was so fun because I never saw any other stadium like that," said Bhriguvashi of playing at the Mall of Asia Arena in 2013. "Manila is the hub of basketball because you can just say the fans and everyone, people are dying over there for basketball."

Bhriguvanshi has many fun memories of playing in the Asia Cup, like how he had his shorts swapped with sever-footer Satnam Singh before a game. However, it is Asia Cup 2015 that Bhriguvanshi is most proud of.

"For me, 2015 was the most memorable because, in 2015, we played in the Quarter-Finals. It was so long since India had played in the Quarter-Finals."

"That was the first Asia Cup that we had an Indian coach and our team was totally united. Amjyot and Amritpal both came from Japan and even though they just came two days before because they had to finish playing in their league, they came and the communication with the team was so great with them. We played very well and for me, it was totally the best Asia Cup."

Of course, there is also the memory of being a part of both historic India teams that were able to beat China at the FIBA Asia Challenges in 2014 and 2016.

"That was a match that nobody can forget in India," Bhriguvanshi said about the monumental upset in 2014. "If you are a basketball player, you know about this game. That match was so tight. Most of the people know that match because of that alley-oop with me and Amjyot. Most of the people remember that but that day, the team was - I can say if I shot from half-court, it will go in. It was that kind of day. The team energy was so high that day."

"There was too much celebration. Too much, too much. Everyone was so happy that the first time in the history of India we defeated China."

"Asia Challenge 2016, we again defeated China over there, so for me to play in both matches was so good. The day when your whole team is performing well, you can beat anybody."

Having played for over a decade in Asia, Bhriguvanshi has played against so many talented players. However, he highlights these two swingmen as his favorite opponents.

"I can say playing against the Philippines, playing against Iran, it was always good. When I was playing against the Philippines, [Gabe] Norwood was guarding me and then when we were playing against Iran, [Samad Nikkah] Bahrami was guarding me. It was like so fun to play against both teams actually. For me, the Philippines was awesome and we also played really well against them."

"Both of them, they are really good on the court. You can see anytime like whenever I see them on the court, they are always disciplined in every way. They don't do the sidling, the trash talk, and everything. They just play their game and their games speak for them."

Only one of the two made it to Bhriguvashi's All-Time Asia Cup Starting Five team, however, and it's a really, really, good team.

"The first one will be Yao Ming. He destroyed everyone in Asia… definitely Yao Ming. Nobody can replace him."

"After Yao Ming, there was Hamed Haddadi. Haddadi had a big impact in the game, now that Yao Ming is not [playing] but you can say Haddadi is here just the passing sense and everything in the game."

"Third is Fadi El-Khatib. He is one of my idols. I always admire him how he plays and people call him the 'Tiger of Asia' and definitely he is."

"Four is Nikkah Bahrami, as I told you, that he is one of the good players."

"At the point guard, I have two options. I can put Jayson Castro from the Philippines. I always find him as a good scorer as a point guard, he scores also very nice. And the other one is Sam Daghlas from Jordan. In Asia Cup 2011, he played so well and got to the Final and I really liked him and how he made Jordan play over there. They defeated Iran in the Quarter-Finals and he played very nicely in that match. I really like Sam Daghlas, his game sense is very nice."

Bhriguvashi will soon be spreading out all of these experiences and success stories through his biography named "Code to Win" which will be on sale soon in India.

"It's coming on August 29 which is actually the national sports day in India. My biography is about my whole journey and whatever I have done now in my life so far."

He mentions that the book goes deep into his time playing basketball because, well, the ball is life.

"Basketball for me was always everything. I give whatever I was able to give for basketball like my time, everything. My son is one and a half years old and when he came to this world, after two days, I had to leave him to play basketball in a tournament."

"Whatever I am doing, anything in my life right now, it's all because of basketball."

As for Bhriguvanshi's own personal "Code to Win"? Stay focused.

"For me, if you want to play basketball, if you want to play football, anything you want to do in your life, for that you should have a specific goal and you should work in the right direction. If you have a mindset for something and you're not working well on that, you won't achieve it. For that, you need to work so hard to achieve that goal. So for me, it should be to be focused and work hard for it."

The book should come in handy for the talented upcoming generation of India basketball, who Bhriguvanshi has much praise for. Whether it's the likes of Muin Bek Hafeez who starred in the first window of the Asia Cup Qualifiers or Princepal Singh, Bhriguvanshi likes what he sees.

"As I can see in the first window of the Qualifiers, Muin played very nicely. I guess if we worked with more, he can be the number one point guard in India."

"Whatever I had learned, I had learned from the experience while watching the other players play," he added about what sort of advice he'd have for Muin. "For him, it was the first tournament while playing as a point guard, so I guess once he will play one or two more tournaments, he will definitely get the experience. He's a very nice guy, he picks up things really quickly, so I really am sure that that one day he'll become a great point guard for India."

"[Princepal] was in the NBA Academy Australia and he came for the national team in the last two matches that we had played in window 1. He played very nice actually. You can say that whenever he came, he gave his 100% and played with so much energy. I guess now with the NBA G-League experience, once he comes back, he'll definitely have more experience in his game and become better than now. I can pray that he can play very well over there and play in the NBA also."

Before Bhriguvanshi wrapped up the talk, he thanked the fans, sent out prayers to everyone in Lebanon especially the basketball community, and noted some expectations for the upcoming second window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers.

"After the first window, the second window is our home game and Bahrain is coming to play. We will try to beat them. Then the next game is against Lebanon and as our side, right now, is playing very nice."

"I was hoping that this situation with this practice and everything, we can actually definitely beat Lebanon in that match, so I was totally focusing on that. Somehow this lockdown and one thing happened after another but hopefully, when everything will start again, we will focus on those home games."

Make sure to check out the full talk on IGTV @FIBAAsiaCup!

FIBA