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The lime light in India's own cricket world is majorly hogged
by the tendulkar's and ganguly's of the Indian team. How many know of the budding cricket stars all set and raring to go in the
under 15 national cricket team? After all, one must not forget that this is where greats like tendulkar blossomed.
Ambati Rayadu - a child prodigy who was nine when he
played his first under-13 match and just 13 when he took on the
big boys in Hyderabad's A-I division league and scored a hundred.
This 'Player of the series' in the Asian Cricket council
tournament came up with a vital 70 against Pakistan. Mrigen
Talukdar, on the other hand has a different story to tell. His
first reencounter with cricket was when he was ten years old. Says
coach Roger Binny, "he has a lovely out swinger."
Talukdar, also the Vice captain of the team, is clearly a hard
worker. Coached by former Assam player Nawab Ali, Talukdar with 13
wickets was named the 'Bowler of the Tournament' in Kuala Lumpur.
Like
Rayadu, the Assam batsman, Palash Jyothi Das found the wickets in
Kuala Lumpur too slow for his liking, but made the adjustment
quickly. Mark Waugh is his idol. "If one is good and hard
working," says he, "one should be able to make it."
A wicket keeper with several pitfalls in his career needs to be
street smart. So is the case with Abhinav Kumar, who effected five
dismissals in the final, two of them stumpings, and relishes the
challenge of standing up. This budding cricketer too earned
himself the title of 'Best Wicketkeeper of the Tournament'.
Clear
enough, these youngsters are doing the country pretty proud. While
the cricket seniors are giving the bookies company, the under 15
team sure is putting in a lot of sweat.
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