1st odi

In 2019, a 17-year-old hockey player represented Manipur in the National Youth Championship, intended for players under 21 years of age.

Last week, the same player represented the state in the U-17 category at the sub-junior nationals in Jind, Haryana.
When Krunal Pandya collapsed at the thought of his late father in the post-entry conversation with the announcers after hitting the ODI 50 faster on his debut, his longtime coach, Jitendra Singh, recoiled to a particular moment.

“Tell me honestly, will Krunal play for India? Khelega, yes? is what his father used to ask. Not many know that more than Hardik, it was Krunal with whom his father Himanshu bhai dreamed that he would play for India. I can understand where KP’s emotional reactions came from. Krunal has his father’s name written on his bat. “

But circumstances conspired to derail the dream. Around 2008, his father suffered his first heart attack. During the following years, until 2014, the family business did not perform well.

“Himanshubhai’s heart attack was the first blow. Then his business fell apart. The money dried up. One dream he had was about Krunal playing for India. So, Hardik was still young. But financial problems meant that Krunal was distraught and distracted. He was young but the oldest son. As the years went by, especially during financial troubles, he began to drift. ‘Paisa kahan sey aayega (where will the money come from), how will the home work? Should I get a regular job once I’m older? Thoughts like that, ”said coach Jitendra, aka Jeetubhai. The Indian Express.

Looking back, the coach feels that doubt also created an obstacle for Krunal. But seeing that his younger brother Hardik was doing well in the sport, Krunal was motivated again.

“The younger brother’s success got the older one back on track, I’d say. He began to think that this was not an impossible dream. If Hardik can do it, so can I, the thoughts helped me. And he jumped back into the game with new vigor from the under-23 age group days. “

Coach Jitendra recalls a moment around the Pandyas dining room table during the close of last year.

“His father was there. Also the mother and the two children. I remember telling Krunal that ‘I know you played T20 for India and they retired you. You play in the IPL but that is not enough. It’s not enough for your father or for me. Your father bet on you for the first time. It was because of you that I have fought many battles in Baroda cricket. This dream is not yours. It’s my dream.

It’s your father’s dream. You have to play for India and help us prove that a lot of people are wrong. ‘ Krunal promised that he would play for India again. At the time, he had gotten very serious about the game and of course he was doing well in IPL, but we just wanted to remind him of the big picture in case he settled for something less. “

The situation last year was not as dire as it was in the under-23 age group when the father and the coach worried that Krunal would not make it. The coach signals an exact game when he turned around.

“It came out cheap in the first inning, a casual shot. Then another bad shot in the second inning. The captain was from my club and I had passed him a message to tell KP that they would leave him from the Baroda Sub-23 team if he continues like this. That I remember was like the kind of doomsday moment for Krunal. That’s when he started to take it more seriously, ”Jitendra said.

The next moment of reckoning came in 2016. The ambition and temperament were spot on, but the power play that could take it to the next level was lacking. “His father was never aggressive and let cricket matter to me, but every now and then he wondered what the future of KP looks like. I remember sitting KP at this stage and telling him that his game was compact, his skill was good and now he was up to training. Physical training, in your bat swing, in strength and power play. To his credit, he put all his energy into it. “

Some work was done on “his base on his posture” before this year’s Vijay Hazare tournament, where he scored a couple hundred. “I remember telling her mother to forget the past. Just do what your husband would have done: “Go and enjoy that Krunal is hitting now.” Now it’s on another level. ‘ He went to Surat to see him get a hundred. Krunal called that night and said that he was very emotional and that he had tears in his eyes. Having his mother there that day. His father is always with him. Like he said after fifty, this was for his daddy zinda-dil. “

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