Small towns are reaping the benefit of the BCCI’s initiative to take opportunity to the doorsteps of talent — regardless of where it is located, reports G Shekhar Luthra in Mail Today
Mushrooming private academies and government sports hostels at the grassroots level have also contributed the interminable supply of talent. Since the opportunities were already there, all the young cricketers had to do was lap them up. Take R. P. Singh or Praveen Kumar of Uttar Pradesh for example. The moment they got international opportunity, they seized it with both hands. Now, there is no looking back for these two Men in Blue. Manoj Tiwary of Bengal also comes from a lower- middle class family and had a hard time reaching a stage where he is recognised in millions of households across the country. Unlike in the past, when cricketers had to migrate to bigger cities to get recognition, the present- day players have no such problem, not least because the media has become hyperactive in unearthing talent from all over.
Ajit Kumar travels to Meerut to find a town proud of its newest star, Praveen Kumar
LOOK dad, this is our SUV.” The extremely expensive, huge machine lies beside a pile of cow dung, right next to an open sewer. But daddy is a proud man. Praveen Kumar has risen to become the latest addition to Team India’s arsenal of hungry, aggressive, no- nonsense cricketers. Two man- of- the- match performances in one week in the recently- concluded Commonwealth Bank series have landed him right in the middle of frenzied media attention and overflowing public gaze. The 21- year- old is better known PK to those close to him. The son of a constable, this Meerutbased lad impressed everyone with his prodigious swing and immaculate control with the white ball.
Sandeep Narayan finds out what Manoj Tiwary, the son of a class IV railway employee treasures most
A CHEQUE of Rs 58 lakh, an IPL salary of Rs 2.7 crore and numerous free gifts and prizes; yet, the most cherished item Manoj Tiwary says he possesses is a pair of gloves worn by Sachin Tendulkar on his final one- day international in Australia. Therein lies the irony of the whole story. The son of a class four railway employee has just been showered with more riches than he could ever imagine, but all Tiwary talks about is a pair of gloves gifted to him by his childhood idol — besides, of course, the euphoria he felt when he finally donned the Indian colours.
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