Navdeep Saini
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Contents |
Early life
Plastic ball
Pratyush Raj, January 8, 2021: The Times of India
A plastic ball his father gifted to him at the age of 5 set the course for his journey from becoming a wanderer for his family to earning a debut for India against Australia in the third cricket Test at Sydney. Navdeep Saini has come a long way from playing on gurudwara premises to becoming one of the most promising fast bowlers of the country.
“He was five, when he came to me and asked for a ball. I asked him if he did not want a bat? He said no. So, I bought a ball,” said Amarjeet Saini, a Haryana government driver who was not much enthused about his son playing cricket. The love affair started at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib at Taraori village in Karnal. Navdeep, along with his elder brother (Mandeep), used to play cricket on its premises during family’s weekly Sunday visits.
“Once when he was in Class VIII, his school was taking students to Shimla for a summer camp. He asked for some money, and I gave it to him. When I returned home after work, he was at home. I asked him you were supposed to go to Shimla, what are you doing here. The reply was ‘Papa Kal ek match hai wo khelna hai,”.
It was not the first time his father was miffed with him. With growing age, Navdeep became a ghost for his family. “Dasvi ke baad toh banjara ho gaya. (He became a nomad after Class X). Someday, he was playing in Karnal, the other day in Ambala or Yamunanagar. He also used to go to Ropar and Patiala to play cricket. He became addicted to the game,” said the 61-year-old.
“I used to be very angry with him. He has received a lot of scolding from me, but he never cared. I was a driver, and my salary was not that good. As a father, I just wanted him to study so that he can have a good future,” he added.
One fine day, Navdeep came home with a giant poster of Zaheer Khan and pasted it on his room’s wall. When I asked him, he replied: “Zaheer Khan mera favourite hai aur mujhe unke jaisa bowler banana hai (Zaheer Khan is my favourite, and I want to become like him).”
Navdeep moved to Delhi from Karnal after he impressed Sumit Narwal (former Delhi pacer) in a local tournament. “One day, Navdeep came home, packed his bag, and told his mother he was going to Delhi. We asked him where you will stay, what will you eat. His reply was “whaan ja ke dekhunga (Will see after going there).” “He never looked back after that. He made his Ranji debut for Delhi. He never shared anything with us, and we only came to know about all this through newspapers. Our family is indebted to Gautam Gambhir (former Delhi captain) for everything he has done for my son. My son’s hard work has paid off; he has changed our lives also,” said Amarjeet.
“Now, when I look back, I am glad that I gifted him that plastic ball,” he signed off.
Career
2013-19
Hindol Basu, July 22, 2019: The Times of India
Navdeep Saini's journey: From earning ₹200/match to the blue jersey
NEW DELHI: It was the first match of the 2019 IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore taking on Chennai Super Kings. CSK were chasing a meagre 71 to win the match as opener Shane Watson trudged out to bat.
Soon the Australian got hit flush on his helmet by a searing bouncer that was clocked at 151kph. Watson was not only beaten for sheer pace, but he was lying on the ground – stunned at what struck him. The bowler was Delhi fast bowler Navdeep Saini, who actually hails from the streets of Karnal, Haryana.
Over the last six years, Saini has been a consistent performer in the domestic circuit; and during the 2019 IPL he impressed one and all with his ability to clock speeds upwards of 150kph. He has also excelled for India ‘A’ in the ongoing oneday series against West Indies ‘A’, picking 5/46 in the second unofficial ODI in Antigua. On Sunday, the 26-year-old was rewarded by the selectors, who picked him in India’s ODI as well as T20 teams for the tour to West Indies.
Saini’s journey to the Indian team has been a rollercoaster one. Till 2013, he didn’t play leather-ball cricket; he wasn’t part of any serious age-group cricket either. Saini used to play tennis-ball cricket in local tournaments in Karnal with his earnings being Rs 200 per match.
Former Delhi medium-pacer Sumit Narwal saw Saini bowl in the Karnal Premier League – a tournament that Narwal used to conduct – and was impressed with his pace. Saini’s next stop was the Delhi nets where he had quite an impact on Gautam Gambhir, who was often beaten for pace. Gambhir would arrange a pair of boots for Saini and ask him to be a regular at the Delhi nets. This was Saini’s intial intrusion into Delhi cricket. Saini had Gambhir’s backing, and the former Delhi captain fought with the state selectors to get the pacer in Delhi’s Ranji Trophy team. Ultimately, Gambhir’s efforts paid off and Saini was selected in the Delhi team in the 2013-14 season.
Since then, Saini hasn’t looked back. He helped Delhi reach the final of the 2017-18 Ranji season where he finished as the team’s leading wicket-taker with 34 in eight games. It was the semifinal against Bengal that saw Saini come up with his best performance. He took 3/55 in the first innings, and then followed with 4/35 in the second to send Bengal crashing for 86, giving Delhi an innings victory. Saini had vindicated the stand taken by Gambhir, who was Delhi’s captain during the 2017-18 campaign.
“Whenever I speak about Gambhir, I get emotional. In fact, after my first few matches with the Delhi team, he said that if I keep working hard at every practice session, I will play for India. He saw it in me before I realised myself. When I look back, I smile,” Saini said, when he had received his maiden call-up to the Indian senior team for the one-off Test match against Afghanistan in June, 2018.
