New Delhi: The Mumbai Indians spinner, Kumar Karthikeya Singh, was once a labourer in a factory in Ghaziabad’s Mussoorie and used to go for coaching in the morning. But, with the help of his hard work and coach Sanjay Bhardwaj, he achieved that position in cricket, which is an inspiration to others.
Bharadwaj shared the story of Kartikeya’s struggle in conversation. Kartikeya came to the cricket academy in Delhi from Kanpur at the age of 15, said Bhardwaj, who coached former cricketers Gautam Gambhir and Amit Mishra. Karthikeya was passionate, the reason for this was that whatever cricket he played till now, he played with a challenge. When he came to me in Delhi, he used to work very hard. Kartikeya would get up at 5.30 am, then after doing fitness and breakfast, from 8:30 to 11:30, he would work very hard in the sun along with Aryan Tiwari.
I told Kartikeya at that time that the way you are working hard, one day you will play cricket on a big level. He used to tell me that when I was in Kanpur and I used to see aeroplanes flying in the sky, I used to think that I had to go on one. But then people used to call me crazy. Kartikeya used to work in a factory 80 km away from the academy. I worked overnight and then went to coaching early in the morning. When Bharadwaj saw that he travelled so much, he asked why he lived so far away. Then Kartikeya told them about the factory job.
Bharadwaj told Kartikeya that he could stay with his cook, who had got a room in the academy itself. When Kartikeya came to me, there were many senior players, including Nitish Rana. I used to tell Kartikeya to go with them. I told the captain of the team to feed this boy. He said that Kartikeya doesn’t do fielding well. After this, Kartikeya would play for three-four hours. It improved it. Today, children do not accept the challenge and get angry if they do something bad to them. But, Kartikeya was not angry.
Madhya Pradesh sent from Delhi:
Bharadwaj, seeing Kartikeya’s art not being appreciated in Delhi, sent him to Madhya Pradesh. In the Madhya Pradesh trial matches, Karthikeya took five wickets in each innings. Soon, Karthikeya was selected for the Ranji Trophy without having played any Junior Board Trophy. Bhardwaj says that he told Kartikeya that there was no one behind him with the help of whom he could progress in cricket, so you have to go ahead with your performance.
The coach said, “I told Kartikeya that there was no good father behind you.” I am just a cricket coach, not a big administrator. I told him that your grandfather should be your best father. If anyone ever did evil to him, he accepted it. When he played the Ranji Trophy, I saw his match in Jabalpur. I said, you are not that Kartikeya, and you feel that now I have become a Ranji player.
I said you used to take 50 wickets in division matches. Then Kartikeya said, “Sir, you woke me up.” See you in the next match. The next match was in Gwalior, where he took five wickets in one innings and six in the second innings.
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