At the start of the decade, 22-year-old Samarth Ravikumar wasn’t even into cricket. “I’d taken up tennis passionately, until my mom introduced me to the willow at a summer camp,” says the lad who hasn’t looked back since. As the top order batsman for Karnataka, he’s now making heads turn with two centuries out of the three games at the nail-biting Ranji Trophy tournaments this season.
“I played for fun and not with an intention to go pro,” he says. But it so happened that he wound up playing for his alma mater, Bishop Cottons Boys’ School and quickly rose up the ranks in the Under-12, 14, 16 and 19 teams, before making a master debut in 2013. That was then. Now, with A-games up his sleeve – a smashing 131 against Assam and a 121 (not out) against Vidarbha, there seems to be no stopping him. “Although, surprisingly, my family isn’t from an athletic background, my parents are extremely supportive, never pressurise me and treat me just the same – a duck or a century later,” smiles Samarth, who like most cricketing fans is a huge fan of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar and namma Wall, Rahul Dravid. Although he was the opening batsman and part of the Karnataka Premiere League’s winning team, Bijapur Bulls and was retained on the team, twice, he calls it his “average season”. And that’s just who he seems to be — not hubristic, and always waiting to prove his mettle with every game, even if he puts on his left pad first. But unlike his idol, Sachin Tendulkar who does the same, Samarth insists that it is more out of habit than superstition.
A student of SBM Jain College in Bengaluru, his schedule has always involved intense training sessions and with it, an unflappable diet. “The fitter you are, the better it is for the rest of the season as there’s no rest during it. But I still eat chocolates and ice creams even in the middle of the tournament, but that’s just thanks to my lucky metabolism,” grins the youngster, who like most lads his age, finds time to unwind with films across dialects and with FIFA on his PlayStation. With his next match against Haryana on October 22, ask him what his plans are ahead and he shrugs, “I don’t usually bother myself with what’s next. It’s always about giving my best shot right now and knowing, that everything will fall into place if I perform well.” A number of promising protégés have treaded the path that Samarth is on before, and have quit thinking there was no future. “Why would one want to quit when you know, no matter how far behind, you’re still one step closer?” he signs off, hoping to shine on field someday in the blue jersey, with the magnificent Team India.
