The IPL has become a gold-dusted acronym, like MBA, IAS or KBC, which can change fortunes. But you need to work hard for it.
The hands that wield a fiery Sunridges VA 900 bat now could have held a damp and dirty 바카라pocha바카라. Many years ago, when Rinku Singh was a boy looking to contribute to his family바카라s scant earnings in Aligarh, he was offered the job of wiping floors at a coaching centre.
But everyone has a threshold. And while all work is precious, Singh turned down the job. Perhaps, he knew he was cut out for better things.
Today, thanks to his stellar performance in the IPL (14 matches, 474 runs, strike rate of almost 150), Singh has not only added to his fairy tale, he is also being talked about as a candidate for the finisher바카라s role in the Indian team.
Singh바카라s is a classic story of an underdog beating the odds and emerging triumphant. And his vehicle has been the IPL, as it has been for so many players over the years. Singh has made in the region of Rs 4.5 crore from the tournament over the last six years, an unimaginable sum for the family once. Before him, Hardik and Krunal Pandya, Nathu Singh, T Natarajan, Mohammed Siraj were some of the players whose lives were transformed by the league.
바카라Only cricket could get me ahead. I didn바카라t have another option,바카라 Singh admitted in an interview.
Everyone knows by now that Singh바카라s father, Khanchandra, delivered LPG gas cylinders. Not many know that the man바카라s five sons, at least some of them, had to help him at times.
바카라There have been days when we have carried two cylinders on one bike to deliver to local eateries or to people바카라s homes,바카라 Singh said, the pain of those years still apparent in his words. There also were beatings from his father, who wanted Rinku to study, not play.
But it was the game that jazzed the boy바카라s soul. His mother, Vina Devi, realized it and did whatever she could. Once, Singh had to go to Kanpur for a tournament. His mother borrowed Rs 1000 from a shop and gave it to him.
Singh performed well at the tournament and kept doing so wherever he played. He climbed through the ranks quickly. By 16, he was a UP player. At 19, he was playing in the Ranji Trophy.
Father-son relationship underwent a mature shift, like in the film 바카라Gully Boy바카라.
바카라There was a tournament in Aligarh once. Papa came to watch it. I was named Player of the Tournament and was awarded a bike,바카라 Singh says. 바카라After that, Papa never hit me.바카라
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Yashasvi Jaiswal, 21, confidently steps off the Rajasthan Royals team bus in designer casuals today. But not too long ago, he was sleeping in the Muslim United Club tent at Mumbai바카라s Azad Maidan, and earning a livelihood by working in a dairy, and then briefly at a paani-puri stall.
Jaiswal is from Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh. Noticing his cricketing talent, his father brought him to Mumbai for coaching and schooling when he was just nine or ten and left him with his uncle. But that was a temporary arrangement, and the boy had to fend for himself after a while. Muslim United gave him shelter in their tent, provided he played well.
Away from home and parents, Jaiswal had to grow up quickly. While he missed his family and hometown, he also began to enjoy his freedom and process of self-discovery. He would eat at Khau Galli and take up ancillary jobs on the maidan, such as umpiring and rolling pitches. That brought extra pocket money.
바카라People say struggle, but for me, it was a good life,바카라 Jaiswal said in an interview. 바카라And it has given me a lot 바카라 independence, the ability to look after myself, a fighting spirit, finding ways out of hard situations. So, sometimes when I don바카라t play well, or I바카라m down, I know how to accept it, absorb it.바카라
Jaiswal바카라s somewhat haphazard Mumbai plan got the necessary direction when in 2013, he was spotted by coach Jwala Singh, who had an academy in Santacruz. Singh also provided the youngster with a roof over his head. Two years later, Jaiswal set an all-round record in school cricket, scoring 319 not out and taking 13/99 over two innings in the Giles Shield. Spots in the Mumbai and India age group teams followed. Those then led to the senior Mumbai team. And in the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 2.4 crore. This year, his pay was Rs 4 crore. In all, Jaiswal is estimated to have made Rs 12. 8 crore from the IPL. Not bad for someone who once sold paani-puri.
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Mohammed Siraj바카라s father Mohammed Ghaus drove a rickshaw in Hyderabad while his mother Shabana Begum was a maid and homemaker. The 29-year-old is proof of three things. Poverty can be overcome. It바카라s never too late to pick up a sport (within reason). And that talent exists at every dusty maidan of the country.
It beggars belief that till 2015, when he was almost 21, Siraj had not bowled with a cricket ball. He had only played with a tennis or rubber ball. It바카라s equally amazing that just a few months after first bowling with a cricket ball, he was playing for Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy. Then, in the 2016-17 season, he took 41 wickets for his state team, and that helped him get an IPL contract worth Rs 2.6 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad. India debuts in all formats followed at regular intervals. As of this year, Siraj, now with Royal Challengers Bangalore, has earned an estimated Rs 27 crore from the IPL.
Looking back on his journey, Siraj said, 바카라As a child, I used to bowl in slippers because I did not have shoes.바카라
He is glad he did not get a chance to take formal coaching. He feels he is a far more natural player due to that, rather than someone obsessed with technical details.
People look at the riches of IPL players, but they have struggles too. As Siraj바카라s career bloomed, his father바카라s health declined. It then worsened just when Siraj was miles away in Australia, about to make his Test debut. One day on the phone, Mohammed Ghaus told his son, 바카라Don바카라t worry about me, you do your job and make the country proud. When you come back home, we바카라ll chat and have a meal together.바카라
It was not to be. Mohammed Ghaus passed away. What made the moment doubly hard for Siraj was that he was in quarantine, alone in his room.
바카라I don바카라t know how I survived those 14 days,바카라 he said. 바카라I thought of coming back. The BCCI also asked me if I wanted to go back. But my dad would have wanted me to play, so I stayed.바카라
But at least Mohammed Ghaus eased into the long sleep knowing that all his years driving a rickshaw had helped make one of his son바카라s an engineer, and the other a top cricketer.
Meanwhile, in Hyderabad, they still treat Siraj as one of their own. Siraj laughed in the interview about the way people continue to address him in Hyderabadi slang. 바카라They think, Siraj abhi bhi vaise-ich hai,바카라 he said. (Siraj is still that same guy from the streets.)
He is, and he isn바카라t. The IPL, like MBA, IAS or KBC, has become that gold-dusted acronym that hands the keys to the Promised Land, provided you have skill, determination and a little bit of luck.