The Star that Faded

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TEN YEARS ago, a patka-headed youngster was the future of Indian cricket. With the under-15 World Cup in his hand, Reetinder Singh Sodhi captured the imagination of the public and selectors alike. And, along with Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh, forced a change in the concept of team selection: not just maturity, there was a need for bubbling energy.

Sodhi was also part of the team that won the under-19 world Cup team four years later years man of the match in both finals, and expectedly made it to the Indian team very soon. That same year he made his full debut for India as a promising all-rounder; his ODI career that lasted 18 matches over less than two years.

Today, Kaif and Yuvraj are Team India posterboys while Sodhi 8212; the patka having given way to a close-cropped head of his 8212; isn8217;t even setting the Ranji Trophy on fire. So where did it all go wrong? 8216;8216;Injury8217;8217;, he says promptly. 8216;8216;I was in the Challenger team and doing fairly well when I was laid low by a back injury for almost a year. I was in bed just wishing to get back to cricket. Looking back now, I think I lost precious time there.8217;8217;

He acknowledges the headstart he got over others of his generation thanks to the World Youth Cup wins. 8216;8216;It8217;s an asset to be part of a winning team, you get instant recognition and more importantly, a momentum that carries you forward.8217;8217;

But it8217;s not so easy; success simply raises the bar against which all future work will be judged. 8216;8216;Once you get a break, it becomes really difficult to continue the journey of making it big. Not just hard work, you also need loads of luck to succeed on the big stage.8217;8217;

There will also be more competition, of course. 8216;8216;You might be really good, but have to accept the fact that there will be more youngsters in the line and they will overtake you if you stop in between. But I believe the competition is within yourself. You have to prove a point to yourself, rather than making people count your deeds.8217;8217;

Whatever be the immediate past, Sodhi can always fall back on the happy memories of those two title wins. Which one was better? It8217;s not easy to choose, he says, but he still clearly remembers the camp for the U-15 tournament, getting up at 5 in the morning and sweating it out till the evening. 8216;8216;Everyone worked really hard and we all developed a gut feeling that our hard work would pay off and we8217;d win. We believed in ourselves and that was it.8221;

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The U-19 World Cup, he feels, was won purely on a better team combination. 8216;8216;By that time we were a bit more mature. We backed each other well and more importantly, it was a better cricketing unit. I got a few runs and wickets, Yuvraj came up with a superb knock against Australia and Kaif was brilliant throughout. So there was also this aspect that brought us victory; every time the need arose, someone stood up and delivered.8217;8217;