Last year’s Indian Premier League champion Rajasthan Royals made big
cricket news with their every selection and the latest to be included in their kitty is a unknown boy from UP’s Azamgarh. Last year, Rajasthan Royals team was distinguished by the absence of big international names except Shane Warne. The tem was definitely not in a mood to bring drastic changes in the winning team and disturb the balance. However, the team did go for some new faces and Darren Berry - team Jaipur’s coaching director - picked up an 18 years old whom nobody knows in the circuit of first class cricket. Mohammad Kamran Khan has just signed a deal with last year’s champion team and it was deal worth Rs 12 lakh ($25,000).
Till date Mohammad Kamran Khan’s life didn’t lack on the spices required for cooking up a Bollywood blockbuster. Getting orphaned at the age of fifteen, giving up studies after tenth standard, leading a life under the dominance of a gang of elder brothers - Kamran’s life had it all to script up a perfect tearjerker in true Bollywood style. But as it happens with all Bollywood hits - you have to use your handkerchief only up to the intermission. After that it is the story of life’s taking the turn, taking the turn to all things better. The rest of the film is the plain and simple rags to riches story with a couple of fighting scenes thrown in between. If you are to go by the Bollywood standard, then it is the time of intermission; with previous season’s champions signing him, Kamran’s life has already hit an important milestone. It is to be seen how the rags to riches story unfolds in case of Kamran as the curtain lifts after the intermission and IPL takes off for this season.
Kamran might have continued with the tennis ball cricket in the by lanes of Azamgarh, had coach Noushad Khan not persuaded him to shift his base to Mumbai. Encouraged by the rise of Iqbal Abdullah, the young dreamer convinced his elder brothers to let him chase his dreams; the dream of making it big in the international cricket.
Although, representing the Indian team in
international cricket matches is a long way to go, getting picked up by Darren Berry is definitely the first step to big cricket. It is to be seen how well he fares in this upcoming cricket tournament. A god performance means a cool 28 lakh increment. And that is an incentive good enough to get the blast out of his bat!
