An amiable, most feared pacer

In the four matches he played in Cooch Behar Trophy for Delhi this season, he struck it rich with 27 wickets from seven innings. Those included two seven-wicket hauls against Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. In fact, his figures against Himachal at the Kotla last week were a staggering six for 14 and seven for 32 in the two innings.

With the advantage of height (nearly 6 feet), he bowled with a lot of venom to trouble every opposition batsmen in the tournament. Moving the ball both ways and getting a nasty lift from good-length spots, Amit Suman was unplayable even on the docile Ferozeshah Kotla track.

Delhi under-19 coach Raj Kumar Sharma was all praise for the youngster. He was of the opinion that the way he extracted pace out of a featherbed of a wicket proved the boy was bound to go places. In fact, he wished some of the national selectors had watched him bowling here. "I am sure he would have certainly found a place in an India under-19 team.Well, his day will come".

This left-arm medium pacer did not get the kind of encouragement he expected on arrival in the Capital. It was only after he joined the National Stadium centre did he gain in confidence. He worked tirelessly under the guidance of coaches Gurcharan Singh, M P Singh and Tej Kaul. Bishen Bedi, a frequent visitor at the stadium, also helped him tone up his bowling stride. Bedi took the youngster on tours to England twice in the last two years where he showed tremendous improvement.

His stint at the MRF Pace Foundation camp in Chennai on three occasions and a two-month summer camp under Australian speedsters Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson helped Amit Suman hone his skills and become an aggressive cricketer. Amit said he had immensely benefitted from the camp at Chennai and he learnt a few things from the Aussie greats. "The trip to Chennai was really worth," said the 18-year-old pacer.

Amit was selected to represent Delhi in Merchant Trophy (Under-16) and played for Rest of India in the Scindia Trophy at Kanpur in 1996.

“My elder brother is my inspiration. I am working hard to represent the country,” says the 11th standard student of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya.