Despite the financial difficulties, Rasheed’s father, Shaik Balisha Vali, also a cricket-lover, left no stone unturned for Rasheed’s coaching.
Guntur :
For the first time, a cricketer from Guntur has been chosen to be a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL). As soon as the mini-auction of 405 players concluded in Kerala’s Kochi, the citizens rejoiced and basked in the glory of Shaik Rasheed, who made it to the player pool of Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Born in Guntur on September 24, 2004, Rasheed’s claim to fame was his impressive performance in the Andhra Premiere League 2022. Perhaps, his crucial role in India winning the Under-19 World Cup and as vice-captain of the team caught attention of the CSK franchise.
Currently playing the Ranji Trophy in Tamil Nadu, the 18-year-old has been signed for a base price of Rs 20 lakh.The all-rounder also happens to be an ardent fan of MS Dhoni. Only after the team of 15 cricketers is finalised, will we know whether or not Rasheed will get to play alongside his role model.
Despite the financial difficulties, Rasheed’s father, Shaik Balisha Vali, also a cricket-lover, left no stone unturned for Rasheed’s coaching.“We are so elated that he is living his dream. When I watched him play with such zeal, I decided to support him and send him for professional training. We had no second thoughts. He also worked very hard to reach the position he is at now,” an elated Balisha expressed.
When he accompanied Rasheed for training in Hyderabad, he had to pick up odd jobs to support the family. “My son has admired Dhoni since the time he started playing gully cricket when he was just six years old. Now, getting an opportunity to play alongside him will be his dream come true,” Balisha said.
Dad picks cue, extends support Balisha Vali, was the first to identify his son’s passion. His first cue was when neighbours’ complaints against the young cricketer for shattering their windows with his ‘sixes’ had become the order of the day
Guntur celebrates As soon as news spread, Guntur lit up with joy as friends and relatives burst firecrackers and distributed sweets. Several people, following Rasheed since his nascent stage, expressed happiness and wished him luck.
source:http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Bandhavi Annam / Express News Service / December 26th, 2022
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma during fielding practice. File | Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak
Watching Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli chase everything and catch everything today, it might be difficult to believe that India began as a team that chased reluctantly and caught by accident.
On a tour of Pakistan, Lala Amarnath, who was there as a media expert introduced me to Gul Mohammed, who had played eight times for India before migrating to Pakistan and playing there. “Greatest fielder,” said Amarnath in the manner he was famous for, leaving it to the listener to fill in the details.
In the years that Indian fielders dropped catches merrily and often let the ball slip through to the boundary, it was not difficult to earn that sobriquet. Perhaps there was one adequate fielder in every generation, and he automatically qualified as the greatest.
I didn’t tell Amarnath that, of course. I was young, on my first full tour and there was something about Amarnath — India’s first Test centurion and first captain of independent India — that kept such responses in check.
In India’s first-ever Test at Lord’s, Lall Singh, probably the only Test cricketer to be born in Malaysia, ran out Frank Woolley to reduce England to 19 for three on the first morning. In later years, Vinoo Mankad was a fine fielder off his own bowling, and Hemu Adhikari earned a reputation as a top class cover point. But it wasn’t until Tiger Pataudi — among the greatest cover points in the game — that India began to pay attention to this aspect of the game.
Trend-setter
“He was doing in the 1960s what modern fielders do as a matter of course now,” according to Sunil Gavaskar. In South Africa, Colin Bland, who many consider the greatest cover fielder ever, told me that Pataudi might have been better than Jonty Rhodes “because his anticipation was superior”.
“I am fanatical in my demands for keen fielding,” Pataudi wrote. He told his team in England, “Although I want to see a smart turnout when we leave the pavilion, once the match starts I want to see a lot of grubby knees…if it takes four or five days to get your flannels cleaned, blame the laundries. I am prepared to put up with a scruffy looking team, but I will never permit scruffy fielding.”
The philosophy percolated down. Pataudi’s boys Ajit Wadekar, Eknath Solkar, Abid Ali, Venkatraghavan, Sunil Gavaskar all played key roles as fielders in India’s maiden series wins in the West Indies and England, although he was no longer captain by then.
Attitude issues
Fielding and fitness began to be taken seriously by a team that had got off on the wrong foot thanks to the attitude of the Maharajahs who played the key roles in the early years and probably believed that running was beneath them. They were perhaps irritated too by the fact they couldn’t ask their retinue of servants to do the job instead.
The cricket historian Edward Docker summed up the early Indian approach thus: “The deep field couldn’t be relied upon to walk in with the bowler. Fieldsmen failed to anticipate the ball. Or overran it. Or used their feet to stop it. The catching was poor, the throwing abominable…”
Writing in the 1940s, the journalist Berry Sarbadhikary said, “Although homilies on the need for first-class fielding are indulged in freely by men in authority, it is the same persons who take the least notice of fielding ability when it comes to the actual selection…”
Watching Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli chase everything and catch everything today, it might be difficult to believe that India began as a team that chased reluctantly and caught by accident.
Emergence of fielding stars
Pataudi’s example and attitude changed all that. Brijesh Patel, who began his first class career in 1969-70 was still cutting off boundaries and cover drives nearly two decades later by which time India’s finest all round fielder had emerged. This was Mohammad Azharuddin, as spectacular in the slips as he was in the outfield, his lithe form adding grace to his movements.
By then Kapil Dev had already exhibited his natural athleticism — he was a superb catcher at gully, but was needed to patrol the outfield where his casual throws to the top of the stumps were a treat.
India’s stock grew in white ball cricket, and a bunch of fielders helped make that happen: Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Mohammed Kaif.
Today it is no longer necessary to ‘hide’ a fielder, as India were once forced to do when players were important for one or two of three skills, or when they were chosen for reasons other than cricket.
The flat-footed was stationed in the slips with the prayer that no snick would go to him; or at mid-on hoping that an on-drive might fortuitously be stopped by a boot or a knee.
The story of Indian fielding is the evolution from ten passengers (usually) in a team to none at all. The Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram, who led on a tour of England, would not recognise this team.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Between Wickets / by Suresh Menon / June 08th, 2022
Umran Malik, the young pace sensation from Jammu and Kashmir, has done it again.
The 22-year-old Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer on Tuesday set the internet on fire by sending a 150-kmph delivery in the first over of his team’s IPL 2022 match against Rajasthan Royals at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, here.
And this is not the first time that the express pacer has clocked the 150-kmph on the speed gun in the IPL.
In the second leg of the IPL played in United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malik sent down a 153-kmph thunderbolt, the fastest delivery in IPL history, and had both his skipper Kane Williamson and the then India captain Virat Kohli gushing over the new speed demon of Indian cricket.
After seeing his ability to bowl with lightning speed, SRH gambled and retained him as their third player ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction.
On Tuesday, that gamble seems to have paid as Malik was their best bowler against Rajasthan Royals, taking two wickets in his four overs spell giving away 39 runs.
Every time he jumps on the popping crease, he outdoes his pace. With his express pace, Malik got the wickets of Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal.
The instant stardom, that he achieved in UAE last year and enhanced on Tuesday, is just a byproduct of his confidence that made him believe that he could make it to the India team at a very young age.
When he was 18, he wrote in his bio on his social media handle, “India Soon”. The pacer, whose father Abdul Rashid is a fruit-seller in Shaheedi Chowk in Jammu, was confident enough to predict that one day he will make it to the national side. His dedication and perseverance paved the way into his state’s Under-19 squad.
A good performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 competition helped him make it to the Sunrisers Hyderabad team as a net bowler.
Malik was roped in as a short-term Covid-19 replacement for T Natarajan, who had tested positive for Covid virus ahead of Hyderabad’s encounter against Delhi Capitals on September 22, 2021. After that, Malik’s fortunes completely changed.
Malik, who was part of the Hyderabad contingent as a net bowler, has played eight T20 and one List A match for Jammu Kashmir and has picked a total of four wickets.
Hailing from a modest family in Jammu’s Gujjar Nagar, Malik began playing at a young age. His family has always supported his passion with his father, his mother and two older sisters always there for him.
In the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2021 IPL, Malik went a step further by bowling the second-fastest delivery of IPL — a 152.95kph thunderbolt that stunned everyone.
At the post-match presentation, RCB’s then skipper Virat Kohli spoke in support of the youngster, “Whenever you see talent like this, you are going to have your eyes on them and make sure you maximise their potential.” “I really felt proud on seeing such a big player talking about me,” Malik had said after the match.
His exploits resulted in him being asked to be part of the Indian senior team’s net bowlers for the T20 World Cup in the UAE last year.
By clocking 150-kmph again on Tuesday, Malik has proved that his exploits last year were not a flash in the pan. He has it in him to consistently hit the 150-mark on the speed gun.
Now he has to build on this brilliant start to fulfill his dream of making it to the Indian team.
–IANS
source: http://www.tribuneindia.com / The Tribune / Home> Sports / by IANS / Pune, March 29th, 2022
Sarfaraz Khan has rained runs in the domestic circuit. | Photo Credit: VIVEK BENDRE
Living father Naushad’s dream, hitting 400 balls every day, driving across north India to find a game or practice session during the lockdown, never settling for just a hundred — the prodigious Mumbai run-scorer offers an insight into his life and methods
You may have come across the 3 Ps and 3 Ds in self-help books. Sarfaraz Khan, the record-breaking Mumbai run machine, has been performing such exceptional feats that he deserves new terminology devised especially for him.
A kid from the by-lanes of Kurla, a central Mumbai suburb, Sarfaraz isn’t one for corporate jargon; he prefers ‘Bambaiya’ lingo. But having tracked his cricketing sojourn for over a decade, one can sum him up in the 4 Os: Obsession, Outstanding, Occupation and Opportunity. Let’s look at each of these facets.
Obsession
Hours after being adjudged the Player of the Match in Mumbai’s final Ranji Trophy league game in Ahmedabad, Sarfaraz reaches his home in Taximen’s Colony in Kurla at around 10 p.m. The first thing he asks his father Naushad is whether the ‘nets’ are booked for the morning.
At 7 a.m. the next day, Sarfaraz is padded up at the Karnatak Sporting Association at Azad Maidan, ready for the daily drill of facing at least 200 balls in the session (he will repeat this dose on a makeshift turf pitch outside his house in the afternoon).
This is the routine Sarfaraz has followed ever since he was hailed as a ‘boy wonder’ in Mumbai’s school cricket circles a decade ago. The 24-year-old has had a topsy-turvy ride though. He has enjoyed the high of playing two Under-19 World Cups and being retained by an IPL franchise ahead of an overhaul. Then came a challenging phase when he left Mumbai for Uttar Pradesh before returning to the domestic powerhouse and establishing himself as a vital cog.
Sarfaraz’s stupendous success — he averages a staggering 77.74 in First Class cricket — has been driven by his determination and maturity at the crease. But the stocky batter says the runs are also a consequence of trying to repay his father’s faith and hard work. In many ways, he has been living his father’s dream.
Sarfaraz Khan at Cross maidan. | Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI
“I have struggled quite a lot. Especially with Abbu. Even after playing two World Cups, the IPL, to be lined up alongside 400-odd cricketers for selection trials (in Uttar Pradesh in 2016-17) and wear the badge of player No. 315, it was quite weird. I used to feel bad for Abbu. We used to stay in a hotel and Abbu would have sleepless nights,” says Sarfaraz, having taken a break from his morning drill and made way for Naushad, who has padded up to ensure the “net bowlers don’t feel like wasting their time”.
“He has worked so hard on me that I feel I have to do it for Abbu. I don’t know whether I will eventually end up playing for India but I want all his hard work to pay off. That’s what I am striving for. He has left everything for our cricket, so I am glad that he has that [chance] to see his son scoring so heavily in Ranji Trophy, that too for a team like Mumbai. To play for Mumbai in itself is a big deal. And to be able to play again means a lot.”
For a sense of the family’s obsession with cricket, sample this: during the pandemic-enforced lockdown, Naushad drove his sons and a couple of local net bowlers in an SUV all the way to Azamgarh, his ancestral town in Uttar Pradesh, to ensure they stayed playing cricket. For the next year or so, the Khans would drive to every town and city across north India that offered the opportunity to play a practice game or have an outdoor net session.
“Be it Meerut, Mathura, Ghaziabad, Azamgarh…. he would drive us all over north India. In Mumbai, people couldn’t drive down for two hours and here we were, travelling all over India in our car to play cricket,” Sarfaraz says.
“Abbu would drive us all over so that our cricket didn’t stop. Sometimes when I travel to other places in the north — be it Delhi or Jaipur or Mohali — I feel as if it’s a home game and not away. I am so used to playing in those conditions that acclimatisation is never an issue.”
Outstanding
You cannot separate Naushad — a former Western Railway cricketer who has devoted his life to moulding Sarfaraz and his younger brother Musheer, an all-rounder, into classy cricketers — from Sarfaraz’s cricketing journey. But this day is about Sarfaraz. And Naushad realises it and doesn’t intervene even once when Sarfaraz is chatting with The Hindu.
Sarfaraz Khan at Cross maidan. | Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI
Ask the plain-speaking Sarfaraz how well he remembers his First Class hundreds and pat comes the reply: “Six centuries… ek (one) triple, three doubles because a triple is also counted as a double. And every century is 150-plus, the one I scored for UP was 150 (155), it is the lowest.”
He says it as a matter of fact. But his returns since returning to Mumbai in January 2020 after a three-year hiatus are gargantuan: 1,564 runs in 15 innings at 142.18! And he isn’t a wee bit surprised by his phenomenal consistency, be it for Mumbai or for India-A against an all-international bowling attack in South Africa.
“I used to score heavily in school cricket, so it feels the same. I have done the same all my life, be it at Azad Maidan or a club ground or at a big stadium, I just am used to going through the motions and scoring runs,” he says.
“Every day brings a new challenge, a new ball, a new set of bowlers and it just doesn’t feel like I scored a hundred yesterday. It just feels like I have to work all over again and go through the routine and the process all over again and score runs. That’s what I have done since school cricket and since I started training with Abbu.”
And what’s the secret behind his daddy hundreds? The response offers a peek into his mindset.
“A lot of players tend to play a rash stroke after getting to the hundred. Once I celebrate the hundred, I keep telling myself — obviously every batter wants to score a hundred — ‘your aim is achieved, now do it for the team by converting it into a big one’.
“Also, there are so many quality players who score hundreds,” he says. “If you want to stand out, you have to score big hundreds, so I wait for four-five balls after the hundred and then start playing freely. Till the 100, I tend to plan in 10s, once I cross the 100, I start looking at it in 20s or 30s because every 20-30 runs that I add, not only will I get to another milestone but I will be taking the team to safety.”
Occupation
In addition to being obsessed with making it big as a cricketer and living his father’s dream, a changed batting outlook has also helped Sarfaraz. He has begun treating the match as his “office” and batting as his “job”. He refers to a dialogue from M.S. Dhoni’s biographical feature film: “Duty ke baad bhi practice (Your practice continues even after office hours)”.
“For me, it’s duty ke pehle and office ke baad bhi practice (it’s practice both before and after office),” he says. “I don’t have an off day. If I am not playing a match, I face at least 400 balls a day once Daddy wakes me up at 5 a.m.”
So how does he put his astounding form into perspective? “I have always been grounded, whether I score or not. I know that you enjoy when you perform well but there are always more sad days in life. That’s why we don’t tend to get excited. Even when I score, I don’t throw parties, nor do I attend anyone else’s. I don’t celebrate my birthday, nor do I attend someone else’s birthday party,” Sarfaraz says.
“My Daddy says, ‘You have so many followers and fans, so if you end up being friends with everyone, someone will have his or her birthday. So if you attend a birthday party every day, when will you play cricket?’ So I don’t go out much nor does our household get over-excited with any achievement. For us, doing well is like our daily job. And I’ve been learning something every day. But I keep telling myself two things: not to repeat the same mistake and follow whatever Daddy says.”
Opportunity
As someone who adapts to red-ball and white-ball formats as seamlessly as he switches between “Abbu” and “Daddy” when he refers to Naushad, Sarfaraz is making a strong case for an India call-up. One can sense that he desperately desires that India cap, especially with the sensational form he has been in, but he spells his position out calmly.
“There would be at least 500 cricketers toiling around us here at the maidan right now. And each one of us aspires to play for India. Whenever the chance comes, I have to be ready for it. That’s all that I am prepping for. If I can do it, I know I shall make my Daddy happy. And that’s what matters the most,” Sarfaraz says, before padding up again and replacing Naushad in the nets.
While Sarfaraz’s range-hitting keeps fielders and bystanders on their toes, Naushad expresses the hope that Sarfaraz gets a chance at the earliest in his new IPL franchise, the Delhi Capitals.
Had the Ranji Trophy not been postponed due to the Omicron variant, Sarfaraz could well have triggered a bidding war instead of being bought at base price in the accelerated auction. But as he starts walking towards his father’s SUV — the same one that had turned into his virtual home-cum-cricket room during the lockdown — Sarfaraz has a parting shot.
“It’s not about the money. It’s about the opportunity.”
With the dazzling form and frame of mind he is in, don’t be surprised if Sarfaraz adds ‘Optimisation’ to his 4 Os the moment he gets an opportunity in the IPL.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Cricket / by Amol Karhadkar / March 19th, 2022
Shams Mulani has silenced all his critics with his sterling performance in the Ranji Trophy.
FILE PHOTO: Mumbai bowler Shams Mulani during a Ranji Trophy match at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. – THE HINDU ARCHIVES
He made his First Class debut in 2018-19. He was Mumbai’s highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy the following season.
Still, Shams Mulani ,the all-rounder, has always had to deal with murmurs of primarily being a white-ball bowler. Over the last fortnight, Mulani has silenced all his critics with his sterling performance bowling left-arm spin.
Mulani has picked a whopping 22 wickets in the first two league stages, including three consecutive five-wicket hauls. As a result, he is topping the wicket-takers’ chart in the Ranji Trophy. The southpaw, who is a couple of weeks shy of turning 25, hopes his performance versus Saurashtra and Goa should end the debate about spin-bowling skills in the longer format.
“I think it should because I never felt I was only a white-ball bowler. I feel that I am versatile and I can play all three formats pretty well as a bowler. That’s what I am trying to do,” Mulani told Sportstar on Monday, a day after being adjudged Player of the Match for his 11-wicket haul and a crucial 50 in Mumbai’s second essay.
“The tags are always going to be there, critics are always going to say something, you can’t help it. You just have to do what you do… let the ball and the bat do the talking.”
It was impressive to see Mulani using the width of the crease versus Goa, sensing the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium was offering turn from outside off-stump to right-handers. “I can say it’s a sense of maturity. Being around for a while, I have started reading the conditions better. The key to pick wickets is to assess the conditions, the batters and change your plan accordingly. I am glad it’s coming off,” he said.
Mulani stressed despite little red-ball cricket in the last two years, it’s his beginning at the Bengal Cricket Academy at Shivaji Park that meant he continued to work hard even while bowling with the red ball.
“Even when the whole focus was on limited overs (he was a Covid-replacement for Axar Patel in IPL 2021’s first half), I make it a point to carry at least one red-ball in my kit-bag all the time,” Mulani said. “That’s the basics. We started off bowling with it as kids and that’s what is going to hold us in good stead in the long-run.”
source: http://www.sportstar.thehindu.com / Sportstar / Home> Domestic / by Amol Karhadkar / Ahmedabad – February 28th, 2022
Captain has high expectations for his side before opener against Canada in St Kitts
UAE captain Alishan Sharafu in action against Pakistan during the Under 19 Asian Cup at the ICC Academy, Dubai, in December. Chris Whiteoak/ The National
The Covid-enforced dearth of international cricket in 2021 was keenly felt by all of UAE’s leading players, but none more so than CP Rizwan.
The Kerala-born batsman must have thought he had finally cracked international cricket when he scored an uplifting century in a one-day international against Ireland a year ago.
Alishan Sharafu says the UAEare capable of achieving “great things” at the U19 World Cup in the Caribbean.
The national team start their campaign on Saturday against Canada in St Kitts. They then face pool matches against England and holders Bangladesh next week.
The competition marks just the third time the UAE have appeared on the global scale at U19 level. They had free admission as hosts in 2014, before qualifying on the field to play in South Africa two years ago.
A return to the event was sealed in absentia this time. The qualifying process was derailed by Covid, and the UAE qualified on the basis of their record in recent years.
Sharafu, the side’s captain, is one of three players who also represented the country in South Africa in 2020.
The middle-order batsman is grateful to be returning for another crack at the event, and the chance to avenge the disappointment of last time.
The UAE missed out on the business phase of the competition back then after a storm ruined their shot at chasing a win against hosts South Africa.
“It really hurt when a chance of a lifetime of going through to a Super Eight of the U19 World Cup was taken away but fortunately we’ve been blessed with another opportunity and been given another shot at it,” Sharafu said.
“I feel we have a very, very talented group of boys and a more balanced with our bowling being our strength, especially our spin attack.
“A few of us were at the last World Cup and it’s great to pass on that experience to the newer boys and make them want to do well at this one because not many are blessed with this opportunity.”
Although the age-group players regularly train with their senior compatriots, Sharafu is the only player in the U19 squad to have sampled full international cricket so far.
The Kerala-born teen has played six T20 internationals and one one-day international for the national team to date. He is hoping to bring some of that experience to bear when the U19 event gets under way.
“Being around the men’s setup for a while just adds a confidence booster because the challenges here were already simulated or experienced there,” Sharafu said. “That obviously helps to figure and work out solutions to problems at the U19 level.
“What I want to pass on to my players is to just enjoy the opportunity and challenges, and be positive and believe that we together can achieve great things.”
UAE v Pakistan, U19 Asia Cup in December
video
As well as the benefit of experience of Sharafu, Kai Smith and Ali Naseer, each of whom played last time, the players will also be able to lean on the wisdom of Mudassar Nazar. The 65-year-old coach played nearly 200 times for Pakistan, including touring West Indies.
“Most of them are already relishing the chance to rub shoulders against the best in the world,” Mudassar said of his young charges. “So far the confidence is high. Having Alishan and Kai amongst us is a real bonus. Their experience is of immense value.”
The UAE’s two warm up matches on tour included a hefty win over Papua New Guinea , plus a narrow loss to England. Mudassar believes the UAE have a well-balanced side who are capable of improving on their pool-stage exit two years ago.
“I was not around then but I am fairly confident that this bunch of players will be very competitive,” Mudassar said. “I guess our top order batting is settled but we have plenty of allrounders, which provide us with depth.
“Spin bowling is a real asset with at least five who bowl spin. Pitches in West Indies are helpful to spinners. We should be able to defend any reasonable total.”
source: http://www.thenationalnews.com / The National / Home> Sport> Cricket / by Paul Radley / January 14th, 2022
