Chennai: As a kid, the sight of stumps cartwheeling on a cricket field lured him to take up fast bowling. Tamil Nadu pacer J. Kaushik, who is in his third Ranji Trophy season, has come a long way since getting a taste of first-class cricket.
Kaushik, a cricketer who was part of the state U-14 and U-16 teams during his school days, says it was the bus journey to his engineering college in the early hours of the morning that made him realise his immeasurable love for the game.
“After passing out of St.Bede's school, I pursued engineer ing. I missed hold ing the cricket ball in my hand. My heart was with cricket though my mind had to be with the engineer ing lessons,“ said the 28-year-old graduate from SSN College.
“Despite odds I tried to squeeze in a As a kid, the sight of stumps cartwheeling on a cricket field lured him to take up fast bowling. Tamil Nadu pacer J. Kaushik, who is in his third Ranji Trophy season, has come a long way since getting a taste of first-class cricket.
Kaushik, a cricketer who was part of the state U-14 and U-16 teams during his school days, says it was the bus journey to his engineering college in the early hours of the morning that made him realise his immeasurable love for the game.
“After passing out of St.Bede’s school, I pursued engineering. I missed holding the cricket ball in my hand. My heart was with cricket though my mind had to be with the engineering lessons,” said the 28-year-old graduate from SSN College.
“Despite odds I tried to squeeze in a few hours of practice in the evening,” he added. But he had no clue that playing in Tamil Nadu’s top league wasn’t far away. Kaushik, who is now in his eighth season in the first division, recalls the day when his bowling impressed R. Ashwin, also studying at SSN, in a college match.
“He asked me to attend the trials of Alwarpet CC, his team at that point, in 2006-07. I bowled well and the selectors were happy with me. My career in cricket had taken off,” said Kaushik.
Five years of toil and more than 100 wickets in the first division earned him a Ranji call-up against Delhi in their backyard in the 2011/12 season.
It turned out to be a dream season as he became the leading wickettaker for TN besides helping them reach the final.
The quarter-final against Maharashtra can be termed a Kaushik-special. Playing at home, he picked up five wickets for 56 runs and it carried Tamil Nadu into the semis.
“I owe every bit of my success to Bharath Reddy, Bharat Arun and trainer Basu. Arun helped me learn the nuances of bowling on flat tracks during the nascent stage of my career. L. Balaji’s guidance was amazing. He was a pillar of strength,” he added.
Admitting that he wasn’t a tearaway quick, he said, “The plan in the Maharashtra match was to choke the opposition and not to lose the initiative we had gained. I stuck to my strengths — moving the ball both ways — and was well supported by the other bowlers. That performance is always close to my heart.” With 28 wickets in seven matches in his first season, much was expected of him. But he fell short in the next term. What went wrong? “I was dropped owing to lack of form,” was his candid response. “I couldn’t get wickets. My mind was overflowing with a variety of thoughts. I went back to the drawing board and realised that I hadn’t done the basics right. I told myself to be patient and just bowl to my strengths,” added Kaushik.
In the last Ranji match against Railways at the Jamia Millia Cricket Ground, New Delhi, Kaushik (3/45) rattled the Railways’ top-order to help TN gain three vital points. With TN taking on Rajasthan at Chennai in a couple of days’ time, Kaushik was sanguine about TN’s chances.
“We would go for an outright win.
It’s a crucial match and all of us have only one thing in mind — to win the Ranji Trophy,” added the Chemplast employee who represents Jolly Rovers in the first division league.
