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Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) young gun Kartik Tyagi has revealed his God-like idol and credited him for all the success he has achieved so far in cricket. Suresh Raina, popularly know as Mr IPL, has been Kartik's inspiration and played an instrumental role in crafting the young fast bowler's career. The 21-year-old is yet to play his first match for SRH in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), however he was up to the mark while bowling for his previous franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the last campaign.
"Like I always say one thing, that after Under-16, Suresh Raina entered my life like a god because people started to recognise me when I was selected for Ranji Trophy. When I was 13, I participated in the Under-14 trials and this is where my cricketing journey began. I started playing for the Under-14 team and then Under-16. In the U-16, there was a season where I got 50 wickets in 7 matches. That is where the selectors started noticing that there is a player who has been taking a lot of wickets at the State level. Despite taking plenty of wickets, we reached the finals but lost. It was there that Gyanendra Pandey sir spotted me and he said that he was impressed by my performances and he will promote me going forward," Tyagi, who was bought for ₹4 crore in this year's IPL auction by SRH, told the franchise in a video.
"From there I reached the State Ranji Trophy camp. When I arrived, I was just a 16-year-old youngster while the others were established players. Then there was an incident where Suresh Raina had also come. I used to be very silent and was observing everything. He was about to leave after his practice, but I don't know why he came back to the ground. He then approached me and asked me about what was my role. I told him that I was a bowler and then he gave me a chance to bowl in the nets. He saw my performance and told me that 'I liked your bowling and I will ensure you get chances in the future.' Personally, for me, it was a good thing that someone like Suresh Raina noticed my performance.
"I was a little shocked that such a big player has complimented me and for a moment, I thought that he was joking. When he said that I was doing well, I still couldn't believe that I will get a chance to play in the coming days. After that, it was quite shocking for me that my name was shortlisted in the UP Ranji team. My Ranji career started from there and later I progressed to the Under-19 team and eventually played the Under-19 World Cup," he further added. The former Chennai Super Kings' player Suresh Raina remained unsold in the IPL 2022 mega auction, however he has taken up the role of commentator in the ongoing IPL.
It will be interesting to see whether the young pacer from Uttar Pradesh will get to play in the IPL 2022 given the strong bowling line-up of SRH loaded with the likes of Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan and Washington Sundar/Jagadeesha Suchith. Meanwhile after losing their first two matches, SRH made a sensational comeback by winning all the four matches on the trot to travel a journey from bottom of the table to being fifth on the table now.
