Sudip Kumar Gharami spent his childhood in a kachcha house with a bamboo roof in Naihati — 44 kilometres from Kolkata. His father, Susanta Gharami, a raj mistry by profession, would take loans from relatives not to build a pakka makaan, but to buy cricket equipment for his son. The sole reason was that Susanta is a die-hard Sachin Tendulkar fan and had promised himself that he would build a new house only if his son became a professional cricketer.
A couple of years ago, the Gharami family moved to a new house, Sudip was scoring heaps of runs for Bengal at the junior level, and senior team coach Arun Lal was so impressed that he fast-tracked him into the senior side. Sudip was a member of the Bengal team, which ended up runners-up in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy.
🚨 Limited Time Offer | Express Premium with ad-lite for just Rs 2/ day 👉🏽 Click here to subscribe 🚨
“True story. My father was a big fan of Sachin Tendulkar. He was determined that one of his sons will play professional cricket. It was not easy as cricket is not a cheap game. He took loans; relatives taunted him that he was wasting money on cricket. But he never gave up,” Sudip told The Indian Express.
The 23-year-old didn’t have a great start to his first-class career. In the league stage, he managed only 75 runs in six innings. But Lal always had faith in his talent.
On Monday, Sudip finally did justice to his ability with his maiden first-class hundred that steered Bengal to a commanding 310 for 1 against Jharkhand on the first day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final. His unbeaten 106-run knock came off 204 balls with 13 fours and a six. He, along with Anustup Majumdar (85 batting, 139 balls) have put on 178 runs for the unbroken second-wicket stand.
“Very happy to score my first ton for Bengal. My aim was to play my natural cricket. My team backed me when I went out to bat, (Abhimanyu) Easwaran, Anustup guided me during my innings, helped me understand better what the situation is demanding. I took some time at first, wanted to understand the wicket and then play my shots,” Sudip said.
“Tomorrow will be a fresh day. I would love to add more runs to my tally. We want to put up a big total,” he said.
Lal, who first spotted Sudip as a teenager at his own academy, is a relieved man.
“He is a class batter. Someone whom we knew will come good for us. He didn’t have a great start to his first-class career, but I guess it was a mental thing, which he has conquered today,” said an elated coach.
Sudip was good against pacers and used his feet exceptionally well against spinners, including the experienced Shahbaz Nadeem.
“His technique is very sound. Someone who likes to play in the V. He is also someone who is very natural with the timing. He has that extra time as well before playing any shot. A special talent. A gun fielder, too, whether he is in the slips, point, cover. For me, he is in the top five fielders in the country. He is so quick to the ball and releases it even more quickly. There will be more such knocks from him, I can vouch for that,” said Lal.
Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.
