Mukesh Kumar has earned his maiden India call-up for the upcoming ODI series against South Africa.
Mukesh Kumar has earned his maiden India call-up for the upcoming ODI series against South Africa.
When Mukesh Kumar was on his way back to the hotel in the Rest of India team bus after the second day’s play of the Irani Cup, he received a notification on his phone: He was Added to Indian team’s WhatsApp group for South Africa ODI series,
Within minutes, he started receiving congratulatory messages from his fans, supporters and well wishers on social media and messaging apps. He was the first to “call my mother and inform her”. This was followed by his coaches “standing with people through thick and thin including Joy sir (Joydeep Mukherjee, former Bengal batsman) and Rano sir (Ranadev Bose, former Bengal swinger and bowling coach).
Minutes before leaving the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Mukesh and Umran Malik were involved in a lengthy discussion with national selector Sunil Joshi. Didn’t Joshi tell her? He did not. “He waited for the official announcement and then called me to congratulate him,” says Mukesh.
It’s been almost three hours since he received a call-up that almost every young Indian wants at some point in their early life. Sitting in a hotel lobby in a white T-shirt and black shorts, what’s on his mind at that exact moment?
“Honestly, I’m just thinking about how to bowl tomorrow and my plan and my team’s (rest of India’s) plan is to finish the game tomorrow. Yes, I am extremely happy with India’s call-up, but for now, focusing on tomorrow’s game,” says Mukesh in a softer tone, in contrast to how his balls leave the batsmen behind.
Your immediate feeling after reading this would be that this would be a typical cliché used by players to jot down their achievement. But one can understand that Mukesh, who has been shy of just over a week since he turned 29, is real.
“I am only like this. It is a matter of great pride to be selected for India but tomorrow is important.”
Perhaps his tendency to not get over-excited on the biggest day of his stay as a cricketer has a lot to do with how his life has been so far. Far from being a privileged cricketer in urban India as a teenager, Mukesh waited for fields to be harvested so that he could run and bowl in Kakarkund, a village in Bihar’s Gopalganj district.
While his father ran a taxi business in Kolkata, Mukesh preferred to stay at his native place. It turned out to be an accident – “I was riding a bike and someone hit it. The side-glass cut off my right cheekbone”- to get him an ultimatum from his father to pack his bags and go to Kolkata.
‘love cricket’
In 2012, Mukesh’s father wanted him to “take up a job and help the family”. But the son loved sports. “I loved playing cricket. I loved working hard. I didn’t even know what an inswing or outswing was. I only knew how to bowl fast. That’s how I played in the second division, taking six wickets in the first match,” he recalls.
They were promoted to the first division of the CAB league but were far from focused. Over the next two years, he was bitten by tennis-ball cricket – a lucrative proposition – and the T20 frenzy. “I used to play these prize money tournaments many times in Kolkata, Patna, even Delhi. Then came the test of Vision 2020 and it changed my life forever. ,
The Cricket Association of Bengal launched a talent hunt cum grooming program with VVS Laxman, Waqar Younis and Muttiah Muralitharan. Bose sensed his talent and convinced Waqar to join him.
In the following season, he made his Bengal debut to overcome the issues of malnutrition and learn the art of cricket. I am indebted to Rano sir and Joy sir. He taught me to be disciplined and patient,” he says.
He also acknowledges “Lal Sir” – former India opener and Bengal head coach Arun Lal – for believing in him and giving him every match of the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy, which proved to be a game-changer. Till then, he had not got consistent runs from the state side.
Any bowler from his background would be overwhelmed to be included in the state team. Mukesh’s case was no different. Actually, he remembers sitting in a corner in the dressing room of Bengal and laughing at him constantly.
“When I first entered Bengal’s dressing room, it was full of players from India. Pragyan Ojha, Mohammed Shami, Ashok Dinda, Manoj Tiwari, Wriddhiman Saha. Five players,” he said with a sly smile.
“I used to wonder where I used to play till recently. There is no land in my village. I used to play two seasons, one after the wheat harvest and the other after the rice. I used to level the ground to play with my hands. And I used to think that I came from there and sit in a corner and laugh at it.”
Once Tiwari asked him: Why do you laugh whenever you see me? “So I told him the same thing and told me I still can’t believe I’m sharing the dressing room with you. He told me: You worked hard for it and you earned it.
On Sunday, everyone in the Indian cricket fraternity and Mukesh’s social circle would be repeating what Tiwary told Mukesh six years ago.