For Shaik Rasheed Vice-Captain U19 World Cup, it was no bed of roses…

SK Rasheed the man with a mission who scripted India’s fabulous U-19 world cup win at Antigua had the unlikeliest of backgrounds to help him pull off a feat as remarkable as the one he did. This was certainly something that his father Shaik Balishavali would never have imagined when his prodigal son would be the cynosure of all eyes while practicing at the coaching center near Mangalagiri suburb in the vicinity of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh run by the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA).

Balishavali was largely ignorant about the world of cricket and only got to understand why his son was so fussed over at the academy when the latter got picked for the India Under-19 world cup side as captain. All of that changed when the sheer raw cricketing talent saw Rasheed score a classic and gritty ninety-four in the semifinal game against Australia in Antigua. This was followed by the doughty fifty in the keenly contested final that helped the national side life the cup for a record fifth time. 

The road to becoming the hottest new cricketing sensation in the nation was one of hard work, determination, and stellar performances in the field. His selection to the U-19 world cup team as Vice-Captain came against a backdrop of his creditable performances in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy, Challengers Trophy, and the Bangladesh Youth Tr- Series.

The 17-year-old right-handed Andhra Pradesh batsman participated in two matches in the triangular series staged in Kolkata scoring 155 runs that included a century and a strike rate of over a hundred, setting the stage for his meteoric rise to glory. Rasheed’s story is typical of the rise of the new age Indian cricketer who hails from humble municipal towns and nondescript districts in the nation. This trend has been discernible for a few years now with Ranchi boy MS Dhoni showing the world the kind of talent that existed beyond the traditional bastions of Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi. Rasheed is one young man that the nation is keeping its eye on.