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Kolkata: When Agra's Pawan Sharma sneaked into a general compartment of a Howrah-bound train last Thursday, he had only one thing on his mind - to meet his idol Sourav Ganguly and persuade the former captain to give him a chance to bowl in the Knight Riders nets.
On Thursday, Sourav gave the 19-year-old a chance to realize his dream. Trying to emulate his favourite bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, Pawan belied his wiry frame and worked up a fair bit of pace troubling most KR batsmen even as Sourav kept a close watch.
So impressed was Sourav with the lad's display that he asked Pawan to postpone his trip back home and report at the nets again on Friday.
Needless to say, Pawan, who has been roughing it out in Kolkata for the past few days, is elated. "I was planning to go back by today's (Thursday) evening train, but Dada asked me to stay back and attend Friday's nets. I don't know whether I will ever make it big, but I will forever remain indebted to Dada for this chance,” said Pawan, who read about KR's camp in newspapers and decided to try his luck.
"After arriving in Kolkata, I parked myself in front of Dada's residence everyday from 10am to 6pm but the security guards didn't let me speak to him. On Tuesday, I gathered enough courage to call out his name loud enough to catch his attention and he stopped his car. After hearing me out, he told me to come to the Eden Gardens on Thursday,” said Pawan, about his adventure so far.
Even though Pawan impressed all with his ability to bowl fast, he has been given no guarantees. He, however, has no regrets. "For me, it's enough that I could bowl in front of Ganguly and get his blessings. Had he asked me to keep bowling till 6pm, I would have happily done so,” Pawan said after a gruelling two-hour session.
Given a bit of luck, the Class IX drop-out could well turn out to be yet another IPL wonder kid. Pawan, meanwhile, is keeping his fingers crossed.
