Vivrant Sharma
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YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
As in 2023
Pratyush Raj, May 22, 2023: The Times of India
Late Sushil Sharma, a former state-level boxer from Jammu and Kashmir, wanted their sons to take up boxing. Elder son Vikrant refused to don the boxing gloves, went against his father’s will and played cricket. Vikrant Sharma also paved the way for Vivrant Sharma, who is 11 years younger than him.
On Sunday afternoon, Vivrant, who was picked by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 2.6 crores in the mini auction last year, hit his maiden IPL fifty and put on 140 runs for the opening wicket with Mayank Agarwal. Vivrant, playing his third game for the franchise, scored 69 off just 47 balls — the highest for any batter in his maiden innings.
“It has been a long two months for us. We’re waiting and waiting to see him play and do well,” Vivrant’s elder brother Vikrant told The Indian Express.
“He was never bothered about not getting games. He is so calm at composed at this age. My only advice to him was to be patient and wait for your chance and make the most out of it, when you get the chance to play,” he added.
Vikrant, who himself was a promising batsman and was picked for the J&K U-16 squad, sacrificed his career to take over the family business after his father died of kidney failure in 2015.
“Our father was a boxer. He used to fight in the 65kg weight category. He always wanted us to take up individual sport. He once took me to a boxing tourney in Jammu. I got scared and told him Papa, ‘I don’t want to play boxing, let me play cricket’ and that is how it began,” said Vikrant. Vikrant’s cricketing career halted when their mother, Anuradha Sharma, died in 2009 due to brain hemorrhage.
“I was in the U-16 probable, when our mother passed away; Vivrant was very young. It was a shock for us. There should be someone to push you. And when my father passed away, I took things in my hands and told Vivrant you can chase our dream and I am there for you,” he said.
Vikrant also revealed how Vivrant left a mark on Chandrakant Pandit during the last year’s Ranji Trophy season.
“During Vijay Hazare, he had scored 69, when J&K chased down 343 against Madhya Pradesh and then in Jammu during Ranji Trophy he hit a six off Avesh Khan’s bowling and Chandu sir spoke to him at length. He called him for the trials in Kolkata, even sent him the tickets. And even before the trial, Chandu sir told him ‘I am seeing you in purple next year’ and even bid for him at the player auction,” said Vikrant.
Last year, Vivrant was with Sunrisers Hyderabad as a net bowler, picked after his friend Abdul Samad shared his bowling with the team management.
“Last year, I was picked as a net bowler. It went well. Just being there with the top cricketers gives you enough confidence. Spending training sessions with the likes of Brian Lara, Muthiah Muralidaran and Dale Steyn, you improve as a cricketer,” Vivrant had told his Newspaper ahead of the tournament. The southpaw is thankful to his friends Abdul Samad and Umran Malik for showing him the way.
“It started with my friends and teammates who played in the IPL, which gave me self-belief. It started with Rasikh Salam, then Abdul Samad got picked before Umran Malik followed,” said Vivrant.
Vivrant was not picked for J&K after he chose to stay with the Sunrisers team and ignored the U-25 call-up. “He was not picked for Mushtaq Ali. Then someone got injured, and he was picked. He has not looked back since then,” said Vikrant.
This year, Vivrant had a great white-ball domestic season. He scored 128 runs in four innings in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, batting at No. 6 with an impressive strike rate of 145.45. He also picked six wickets at an excellent economy rate of 6.66.
In the Vijay Hazare (50-over) Trophy, the J&K team promoted him to top of the order, and he scored 395 runs in eight matches, including a century and two fifties.
Along with his brother, Vivrant’s stepmother Sunita Magotra, who is a high-school teacher, made sure that her son chased his dream single-mindedly.
“She has been the backbone of our family. She is one of the most strong-willed women I have seen. She always told me, ‘don’t worry, just follow your dream and make sure you reach there’,” Vivrant said about her mother.
