Cricket News: Three Indian cricket stars who went from rags to riches
In India, cricket is more than just the sport of the masses – it is also an opportunity for many to climb the social ladder and gain financial status quickly.
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Image credit: pia.images.co.uk Hardik Pandya: Future captain?This is especially true in recent times when cricketers have access to commercial deals, more considerable broadcast money, and the Indian Premier League (IPL) as a source of income.
Today, a cricketer need not even be a part of the Indian team to be financially secure – just an IPL contract is enough.
And this also means that many players look to come into cricket to give themselves and their families an easier life.
Here are three instances of Indian cricket players who recently rose to prominence despite coming from less-than-privileged backgrounds.
Hardik Pandya
The one-time bad boy of Indian cricket and now soon-to-be future T20I captain of the team, Hardik Pandya story included not just him but even his family putting in the hard yards to help him achieve his dreams.
Pandya's father, Himanshu, ran a small car finance business in Surat. He shut down and moved the family to Vadodara to ensure his sons Hardik and Himanshu had better cricket facilities. But times were hard for the family, and they had to struggle to make ends meet.
Only when Pandya was noticed by the Mumbai Indians and signed up their life changed, and he never looked back.
Rishabh Pant
The current wicketkeeper-batsman has been a part of the Indian team for what feels like an eternity now, but it is often forgotten what he had to go through to even get this far in the first place.
Born in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, Pant's family was one of limited means, and he would have to travel to Delhi on weekends to train in a cricket academy. However, due to their inability to afford a proper place to stay in the city, Pant and his mother would put up in a gurdwara.
Pant's persistence paid off, however. He was soon playing state-level cricket for Delhi, where he lit up the Ranji Trophy and was eventually handed a contract by then Delhi Daredevils – the side he is still captain of. Oh, and he won India a few Test matches abroad.
Umran Malik
The man India is hoping becomes their next pace bowling sensation, Umran Malik's career has been on an unusually high upward trajectory. He spent a good chunk of his junior career playing gully and tennis ball cricket, only later giving proper cricket a shot.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The rise and rise of Umran Malik is the story of this IPL. So far he's been coming to bowl with opposition under pressure but this time came when GT were wicketless and took down the top 3 🔥 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SRHvGT?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SRHvGT</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IPL2022?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IPL2022</a> <a href="https://t.co/XCfS59VlIK">pic.twitter.com/XCfS59VlIK</a></p>— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) <a href="https://twitter.com/WasimJaffer14/status/1519367159343767553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
And he, too, came from a family that wasn't precisely affluent. His father was and is a fruit seller in the city of Jammu, and despite the family never stopping him from pursuing cricket, it wasn't a given he would make it given his means – or lack thereof.
A net bowling gig with the Sunrisers Hyderabad changed everything, as he was eventually picked by the side and has now become a national sensation.