It will be a moment of deja vu for Chandigarh cricketer Vaibhav Kaushik when he travels to Lahore at the end of September to take part in an ODI series against the Pakistan U-16 schools team. The 15-year-old,a student of St Johns School,will be part of the 16-member Indian team. It was back in 2004 that Vaibhav had gone to Lahore to watch India vs Pakistan Test match played at the Qaddafi stadium. At that time,he had just begun to take his cricket lessons at the St Johns Cricket Academy seriously. Expressing delight over his selection,a beaming Vaibhav said,Back in 2004,I had never imagined that I would be selected in the India U-16 team and would be travelling to Pakistan to take part in a cricket tournament. It would be wonderful to get such an exposure at this point of time in my life. It was during the India vs Pakistan Test match in Lahore that I decided to pursue cricket as a career,and its amazing that I will be visiting the place again as a cricketer. I have been working hard on my game in the recent years. I am happy that my efforts at the school nationals last year have been recognised and I have been able to make the final cut. Selected by the School Games Federation of India,Vaibhav will represent India for the first time at the junior level. As many as 40 U-16 cricketers had been shortlisted from all over India for this India U-16 probables list,keeping in mind their performances at the school national tournament level. A few days back,the bunch of these cricketers attended a week-long camp at Agra in preparation for the Pakistan tour. The India U-16 schools team will not only travel to Pakistan in the coming months,but also go on to take part in an ODI series in Sri Lanka and England against their respective schools teams. A top order batsman,who stands 6 feet,led Chandigarh schools U-16 team to third place last year. He was also selected in the Punjab State U-16 team for the national tournament the same year. A Class XI medical student,he practises daily at the St Johns Cricket Academy for three hours. Since his childhood,his cricket has been his life. Apart from playing and watching cricket,Vaibhav loves football and is a big fan of Liverpool Football Club. Talking about his preparation for the Pakistan tour,Vaibhav who is trained by coach Sumandeep Sindra said,We trained hard at the nets during the camp. But it would be a different ball game altogether when we go to the foreign soil. It would be amazing to score there for the team and win matches. Vaibhav who idolises both Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid aims to become part of the Punjab U-19 team soon. It will be for the first time in the last few years when an Indian cricket team will be travelling to Pakistan for some tournament.
