Studies in Contrast: Umesh Yadav (left) and Varun Aaron (Photo courtesy: hindustantimes.com)
They have shown that all it takes to succeed is an idea, a dream, a lot of hard work and an element of luck. The rise of players like Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Ajinkya Rahane has come as a confirmation that dreams are no longer a prerogative of the metros likes Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
A little over two decades ago, when cricket telecasts were still being produced by Doordarshan, it was hard to imagine so Indian cricketers coming from such diverse locations. The selling of TV rights to cable and satellite companies has had a huge role in the spawning of such dreams in small towns like Rae Bareily and Jamshedpur, Kochi and Cuttack, Moradabad and Gadag, Allahabad and Ikhar, Jalandhar and Ranchi.
You do not have to strain your ears to hear the continuing buzz on 23-year-old Piyush Chawla and his selection in the Indian team for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. After he spent more than two years in the sidelines when others like Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha travelled with India’s Test and one-day international teams, the 23-year-old who answers to the call of Paras after the fabled stone that is reputed to turn all metal it touches to gold was picked ostensibly because captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni sought to have variety in the bowling attack.
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