Story SPK Srivastav - Journey for the Blue Cap

[India2011]

SPK Srivastav - Journey for the Blue Cap​

The story of a young Indian who never gave up on his dream - to wear the blue cap. The journey of someone who made the leap of struggling to make his domestic XI to making his test debut in the span of 11 months.

Note: Not all the information in my story is true, eg. fixtures, players, teams, ect.


Introduction: October, 2008 - 2nd Test, India vs. Australia, Wankhede Stadium Mumbai

I take a deep breath, closing my eyes. This is the biggest day of my 20-year life. I open my eyes and look to my right, to the dark blue helmet, with the Indian Crest stitched on it. I stare at my lap, at the blue 'SG' sticker stuck onto my bat.

I see someone patting my shoulder. I don't even look to see who it is. "C'mon - go out there and just play naturally," says the voice. I sigh and get up, jumping around in my pads, playing a few shadow drives as I walk out of the long tunnel, onto the ground.

As I walk onto the sunlit pitch, I am deafened by the roar of the crowd as the speaker resounds around the stadium: "And in comes SPK Srivastav, on test debut!"

I don't know how I move my legs as I strut out towards the centre track, looking at my feet along the way.

I finally look up at the scoreboard: Ind. 132-3; R Dravid 60*; B Lee 15-4-34-3; Last Bat Tendulkar 12.

I walk on to meet Rahul Dravid on the center wicket. "Okay," he said as I walked up to him. I had to concentrate to hear him among the crowd. "Lee is on fire, so just consolidate - look for singles and block. Lee's already bowled quite a bit, so they're probably taking him off soon. Even at bad balls, don't go after them until you're set. Don't get bogged down - just stay patient."

I nod silently as we depart and I take my usual middle-leg guard. I tap my bat on the ground, just behind my feet with my orthodox grip. I slowly lift my head and arms to see the bowler charging in from - well, it seemed as if he was running from the boundary. Thoughts race though my mind: How fast is he going to bowl? 150? 155? Will I be able to see it. Ugh, I've struggled against 135k, how am I going to face this guy? Well, probably the worst guy to face my first ball of international cricket against. Well, here he comes. Is it a yorker or bouncer? Here he comes. . .


March 7, 2008 ? Hotel Room, KL ? aftermath of the U-19 World Cup final

What a day ? and what a tournament it has been. I?m currently sitting with my team mates in my room watching the CB series 2nd final against Australia. I didn?t play in any of the matches due to a nagging shoulder injury in the league stages and was not selected once I was fit to play in the Super Eight Stages due to my lack of recent match practice.

But that doesn?t matter. What matters is that India are the world champions. We?ve had a lot of fun in the past week, but tomorrow morning we?re set to board the plane back to India.

And what?s more ? today I turned 20. And I can tell you, what a way this is to celebrate my birthday. And I had a happy birthday for more than one reason. I?ve just received a call from guess who ? Sharad Powar, from the BCCI. My hopes have been confirmed. I have been chosen for the India ?A? team set to tour England on April 2nd. I?ve been waiting to play for India ?A? for a long time. Who knows, maybe a spot in the Indian XI will come my way.

But I can?t think like that. Right now, I?m looking to take a nice one-week break before entering the team camp before we tour England. With not playing in the U-19 World Cup, I can?t say how determined I am to score and prove myself a quality player.

But I can?t help but think as I watch Sachin chip one to mid on to get out on 91, how it would feel like to play in that match. Maybe it won?t be long before I am in that position.

But oh well. I should stop fooling myself. That?s a long way away.

 

[PaulNixon1]

Great Start India 2011 KUTGW.

 

[formula1man]

geez another story, another brilliant story, i couldn't believe my eyes wat a great read and wat a cliff hanger, with Lee bowling.
I make an effort to read every and this 1 wont dissapoint good work and good luck

 

[Pakistani Army]

What a fantastic start here mate. The detail is great.
Looking forward to this story. I will be keeping a close eye on this one.

 

[Jit]

ya mate great start keep it up

 

[Highlander999]

Good luck. If you want any helps or tips, just PM me (That applies to anyone btw )

 

[Highlander999]

Now come on Ollie. Don't spam in his thread

 

[Spoobir]

Also don't spam it with the crappiest jokes ever seen!

Nice start to the story, good luck!

 

[Ollie_H]

Also don't spam it with the crappiest jokes ever seen!

Nice start to the story, good luck!

You need to calm down!

 

[Jit]

You need to calm down!

wow lol this thread is going to come all junk soon if this continues

 

[India2011]

This is a cricket thread, so anyone wanting to advertise tea can just get out of this forum. Thank you. :

Anyways, thank you all for your comments, those of you who commented on the actual story.

I'll try to get the next update by tomorrwo or the day after.

@highlander999: Thank's in advance. I'll let you know if I need any help.

 

[Ollie_H]

Sorry India it was only a bit of light banter, Nice start looking forward to the next update

 

[India2011]

Ok it's fine, sorry I got too mad.

Alright I'm working on the next update, should be on pretty soon.

 

[India2011]

Finally an update

March 16, 2008

I drove my car onto the carpark - which was nearly empty, and got out. I took my kit out of the backseat, and walked into the Wankhede Stadium. I had been called to Captain Mumbai U-21 for a warm up match against Karnataka U-21. I took the offer, since this could provide valuable match practice before I start my India 'A' training in a few days.

I walked through the hallway but stopped at the dressing room door. I took a deep breath. I'd never walked into the Wankhede dressing room my whole life. I never played for Mumbai U-19 team or any India U-19 games here. I felt a little overwhelmed. I'd spent my entire childhood coming here every time India had a match here. Now I would be playing here.

I shook off the emotion and walked into dressing room. I saw the coach, who was probably talking to the team, when I walked in. Suddenly, all eyes were on me. The coach turned to his team. "Alright guys," he said, "this is Shaan Srivastav, he will be captaining this match. He's just come from the world cup winning India U-19 squad, and will soon be joining the India 'A' team.

The team nodded. "Well," said the coach, "let's get onto the field."

_________________________________________________________________

I sat in the dressing room, fully padded up. I had won the toss - well, I can't really say that I won it - I wanted to bat and the opposition wanted to bowl, so as it was a practice match we skipped the toss.

It was a 35 overs game, and since I knew none of the players I simply put the regualr two openers to bat, putting myself at no. three.

And it seemed to be working - in fact, working extremely well. We were 78 for no loss after 10 overs. Two balls later however, one of them edged it slip after two dot balls.

I took a deep breath as I walked out to bat. I looked around the stadium - it was like an empty bowl - a very big empty bowl. There were little more than fifty spectators, and in a 70,000 capacity stadium - well, enough said.

I arrived at the crease with one thought in mind - score runs. I thought that I would just use it as practice and block, but in the end I decided it was better to get in a run scoring mood.

I took a deep breath as the bowler was charging in. He was sweating and you could make out that he was taking slightly lathargic strides in. The sun was beating down heavily - humidity was over 70% at least, with the heat crossing 40. I was already feeling drained when the bowler was halfway through his runup.

I quickly got back to concentration as the bowler was about to bowl. I was watching him and his hand intently. He's almost there - he has an orthodox grip, he's almost into his jump . . . and that point a saw his thumb slide off the ball as he bent it again. Not having enough time to think about it, I instictually picked it up as a slower off cutter. Just as it left the bowler's hand, as it was in the air, I saw it as a length ball outside off.

I quickly walked accross my stumps, trying to cover as much ground as possible, so that when the ball reached me (which I later realized was on the off stump) I was in a perfect position to do a delicat paddle sweep with no fine leg.

And thus came my first runs of the match, coming off a frst ball four. After that shot my confidence soared. I knew this was my day, the sort of day that I would have my eye in from the first ball.

Sure enough, when the bowler charged in for the next delivery, just as the ball left his arm, I could pick the short pitched ball on the same line as the last ball. I latched onto it, rocking on to the back foot and punching the ball, with perfect timing, right in between cover and extra cover. The ball just raced away to the boundary from there. And from then on, I was set.

The next ball was an absoluty gift. A wide half volley, which I elegantly smashed (?) through the cover point region with a cracking square drive.

And the last ball of the over, he bowled what I thought to be a faster length ball, but curved back in, and I was just able to bring down my bat in time for the ball to take a thick edge - believe it or not - to the third man boundary! What can I say - it's a batsman's game.

Anyways, the next over was a spinner. And in his first ball, my partner, a huge left hander who could hit the ball a long way, slog swept him onto the second tier of the stand. On the second ball, he just poked at the quicker delivery, and it blazed over the bowler's head for the flattest six I have ever seen. The third ball was smashed to the point boundary. The fourth was outstandingly reveres-swept to the vacant backward point area. The fifth was smashed in the same area for the same result. And the last was a delicate paddle sweep for four.

28 runs of the over. We were 122-1 after 12 overs.

For the next wenty overs the two of us followed the same formula - I give singles, he gives sixes.

After the thirtieth over, we were 266-1 with my partner on 170 and me on 66.

A frustrated Karnataka team could come up with nothing, as they suffered the ultimate humiliation - in the 35th over my partner smashed a straight six to bring up his double hundred on the last ball of the innings. We finished the innings at 320-1 after the full 35 overs, with my partner at 200* and me on 90*

 

[formula1man]

holy crap how good is this story SOTM for sure
holy crap what a huge innings, a nicely played 90 as well