Ailing father to Delhi cricket politics, KKR's Suyash Sharma has come a long way

Hailing from a lower middleclass background with no Godfather in a corrupt cricket environment 19yearold Suyash Sharma is one of the many rare gems of the sports who has tasted success despite the system Not only he had to struggle due to lack of backing he also had to deal with the stress related to the illness of his father who is fighting the dreaded cancer diseaseDelhi is famous for churning phenomenal talent with monotonic regularity and Suyash is latest to join the bandwagon Making his debut as an impact substitute the unheralded Suyash took 3 for 30 in KKRs 81run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore His scalps included two recognised keeperbatters Dinesh Karthik and Anuj Rawat apart from allrounder Karn SharmaThe wiryframed mystery spinner barely showed signs of nerves His armspeed and ability to bowl legbreak and googly without any distinct change in action has surely caught the imagination of coaches and the fansIt wasnt an easy journey for Suyash He was former Delhi spinner Suresh Batras student and used to play for his club We lost Suresh ji to COVID19 and after that he came to me as he wanted match practice I gave him a chance to play for my Madras Club in DDCA league and RunStar club in open tournaments noted Delhi coach Randhir Singh told PTIAlso Read KKRs Suyash Sharmas similarity with Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra leaves Internet astoundedSuyash who doesnt come from a financially welloff family has had a tough phase to overcome last yearHis father was detected with cancer But I think he will forever be indebted to former Delhi spinner and current MI manager talent scout Rahul Sanghvi who helped him immensely with his fathers treatment I told him if any help was needed we could look at AIIMS but thanks to Rahul his father got treated in Mumbai He had also appeared for trials at MI Randhir saidDelhi club cricket isnt a lucrative one as none of the clubs pay any money unlike Kolkata Chennai or Mumbai and the absence of formal contracts make it even further challengingWe never paid Suyash anything as in Delhi club cricket no one gets a penny Only if you are professional playing for India and has been requested to play there may be some financial takings Randhir explainedThe Madras Club is one of the wellknown clubs in Delhi club circuit and its famous alumni include Virender Sehwag and Yuzvendra ChahalThere is something about our club that five spinners have played IPL so far Pawan Negi Pradeep Sahu Tejas Baroka Chahal and now Suyash Our boys train at Jesus amp Mary College JMC ground It was in DDCA league last year that his fast googlies came into prominence and he got a lot of wickets Randhir saidIn Delhi cricket unless one has a strong backing from a club or individual members who control at least 1015 votes getting a chance in agegroup teams is a Herculean achievement Suyash ensured he was at his best in DDCA Challenger Trophy a trial tournament to select U25 state team But that wasnt enough as there were enough people in DDCA circle who also spread canards about Suyash that he was from Rajasthan domicile which was chairman of selectors Gagan Khoda and U25 head coach Pankaj Singhs state But that was a lie as the boy had played all his cricket in Delhi but both Pankaj and Gagan got him in the white ball team for the BCCI U25 tournamentFor me all what mattered was the kind of talent that I saw in him during the trials He was talented and I wanted him in U25 team said former India pacer Pankaj As a coach I wanted to check his basics First things first he could turn the ball off the surface Uske haath mein spin karne ke ability thii He wasnt very tall but technique of delivery was good And if you can bowl both legbreak turns away from righthander and googly turns into right hander without any perceptible change in action you are a special talent Pankaj saidHow difficult it is for a player to straightaway shine in IPL without playing a single Ranji Trophy Vijay Hazare or Syed Mushtaq Ali gameIt is difficult no doubt I knew he had ability but does he have temperament to withstand the pressures of topflight cricket That was my question too So before he went for KKR trials I had a chat with him Abhishek Nayar one of the top men in KKR coaching staff is a friend and I had recommended Suyash to Abhishek I told him the boy is good and wanted him to check if he could manage pressureWith PTI inputs