Son of a senior ticket collector in the Indian Railways, spin allrounder Shivang Kumar has come really far to make it to the Indian Premier League (IPL). Shivang is in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s ranks in what is his first season in the league. So far, he has proved he is a terrific son, fulfilling his father’s dreams as he should.
“My father played Under-19 cricket for Bengal. But due to family circumstances, he had to give up cricket. Now, I am trying to fulfil both his dream and mine. We share the same dream – that I play for the Indian team – and the IPL is a big platform to reach that goal,” the 23-year-old, who made his IPL debut against KKR earlier this week, told ESPNcricinfo.
But it has not been a smooth journey. Shivang is from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, but represents Madhya Pradesh in domestic cricket. There was a time, almost 10 years ago, when he had lost his zeal for cricket, for he was not getting any opportunities in Moradabad. Heartbroken as well as directionless, he decided to put his bat down for good, but then a suggestion from a friend reignited his passion for cricket. His friend asked him to watch a movie.
The Dhoni impact!
“Before coming to Madhya Pradesh, I used to play in my hometown Moradabad. But not being selected anywhere made me lose my passion for cricket.
“Then a brother of mine advised me to watch the biopic on MS Dhoni. It was after watching it that I decided to give cricket another go. After about a year or so, I picked up the bat again, and scored 98 runs in a local tournament against a team from Delhi. That day, I realised I could leave cricket, but cricket would never leave me,” he said.
Shivang has reached the IPL after impressive shows in the Madhya Pradesh League, the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. SRH purchased him ₹30 lac despite the fact that he twice failed to show up at their trials for one reason or another. He had attended trials at Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals though.
“The first time there was a typhoon, and the second time there was a strike from IndiGo [airlines] – so I couldn’t attend SRH trials. But since I had given trials for other teams and performed well in the MPL, I was confident that some team would pick me in the IPL auction,” he said.
Shivang asked his dad, Praveen, to watch the Dhoni biopic too, which he did readily. “When I went to watch the film, I became emotional and remembered my struggling days. When I used to play cricket, I didn’t have enough resources, but I decided I would provide my son with all the facilities. When he performed well in a local tournament, I took him the next day to Tansen Cricket Academy in Gwalior, and that’s where a new journey began. From Gwalior, a coach took him to Bhopal for a match, where both Priyansh Arya and Shivang performed well,” the father reminisced.
