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[caught and bowled]

He carried load on his back, now shoulders bowling responsibility
 
 
Andhra medium-pacer Vijay Kumar took to the game to help pay a family debt
G_S_VIVEK         
 
Posted online: Friday, January 05, 2007 at 0000 hours IST
 
 
Vijayawada, January 4:
This is a story of a 19-year-old village boy. Paidikalva Vijay Kumar, the son of a lorry driver, used to help his father add to his income by carrying sacks of load on his back. But his passion for cricket took the better of him and Andhra’s rookie medium-pacer, making his debut against Baroda this season, has already started getting noticed.
Not only did he help his family clear a debt of Rs 25,000, but he has also made his presence felt by Andhra in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. With eight wickets in three matches, he has shaped out as a steady third seamer in their pace-oriented attack.

Vijay is candid about his short journey — from his house in a remote Kadapa to his adopted home Vijayawada — that pays him enough. “I had a fascination for cricket from the childhood. I used to watch matches on television but I pursued the game only to earn money. My father used to scold me when I used to sneak out to play local matches in my village. I will now take the money back home at the end of the season and tell him that I have earned it through playing cricket,” he says with pride.


Vijay is happy that he doesn’t have to endure physically anymore — carrying the loads — and can take good care of his sister and two brothers. “I know I have to play well enough for Andhra to retain my place. I have realised my first dream — of improving my family’s standard of living — but now I want to bowl as quick as my idol, Shoaib Akhtar,” he says.

For his family, cricket evokes little emotion; it’s just a source of livelihood. They still don’t know what Ranji Trophy or what Vijay has achieved. They just know he’s gone out for work. And his work is to play cricket. Vijay says he hasn’t seen this kind of money — Rs 16,000 per match — in his life, but what is overwhelming for him is to believe that his life has hit the highway in just six months.

Last July, he was playing a local village match, where he picked six wickets bowling with a cork ball and hurried the batsmen with his pace. He met Jaimalah, the Kadapa district strike bowler and playing against him in that match, who convinced him to come out of his village and learn the finer techniques of swing. Jaimalah promised him to get him into the district under-22 side — a promise that he kept and this is where Vijay met Kajah, his most influential person and best friend.

Kajah, his new ball partner in the under-22 district team, bought him his first set of whites and bowling shoes. Vijay emerged the highest wicket-taker for his district and made it to the state under-22. This was the time when he met his now fellow Andhra fast-bowler in the Ranji team, D Kalyan Krishna, who requested his Ranji coach N Madhukar to have a look at him. The rest is history.

“I went to see him and he looked really sharp. What I liked in him is his attitude. This guy has the potential, and he needs a bit of moulding. I just tell him he has a primary responsibility of carrying Andhra team along.”

Madhukar has his plan worked out for Vijay. He doesn’t want him to go back to his village, because if “he goes back he will forget his cricket and get engaged in household work.”

In fact, Madhukar’s sports promotion company Cynergy has decided to employ him so that Vijay is under their observation all the time and he keeps improving. “He will stay at my guest house and will get a salary of Rs 8,000 a month. We want him to play cricket, he’s a special talent. We cannot push him back to that life again,” he says.

 

[sgusa]

Awesome story. Hope he does well for the state, country and his family!

</sappy>

[bouncer]

Ditto.