A teenage boy who built a cricket academy

 

                                            India U-19 team. Image courtesy: India.com

Full name Ravi Bishnoi

Born September 5, 2000, Jodhpur, Rajasthan

Current age 20 years

Major teams India Under-19s, Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan

Playing role Bowler

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Leg-break googly

‘Browny, it's now or never’ these words made the difference in Ravi Bishnoi’s life, when he chose to back his passion over his dad's orders.

As in almost every small town in India, a group of boys played cricket daily in an extremely dry & dusty ground in Jodhpur, in Western Rajasthan. However, this place was different. Nobody played sports, but these young boys loved it.

It was a big deal to take up a sport in a city that hadn’t produced a single international cricketer…until now.

Ravi Bishnoi was a member of this group. 

Ravi, with his friends. Image courtesy: Indianexpress.com

 

Son of a government school headmaster and a housewife, his love for cricket stems from his mother, who is a massive cricket fan. Even today, during a cricket match, she will be glued to the TV.

How I wish, kids of all cricket crazy mothers take up cricket as a profession!

Ravi with his parents. Image courtesy: wikibio.in

Playing for fun was alright but there were no facilities to help kids take the game seriously – no academies, no coaching etc. 

How many kids care about the sporting facilities or think about the future at his age? Ravi did. He was very serious about cricket and wanted to do something for his city. Thus, was born a dream to build a cricket academy to ensure more kids could take up the sport. 

Please notice that I said Build.an.academy.

Coming from humble backgrounds, the lack of finances was a reality, but it did not stop Ravi from pursuing their dreams. Ravi & his friends decided to do the manual labour to build the academy themselves.

The ground was barren and filled with rocks. Clearing the rocks themselves, borrowing hammer and tools from the town, breaking & carrying stones, mixing cement, they went about the work manually, as they could not afford a JCB truck. In a place like Rajasthan, in that scorching heat, the effort continued for 6 months.

Levelling the ground was just the beginning. There was a lot to do. They planted the grass and ordered the red mud for the wicket.

It is amazing for a young boy to have this kind of dedication to learn & play the sport and the vision to build an academy.

All this at the age of 13.

Ravi & his friends toiling to build the academy. Image courtesy:sportstar.thehindu.com

The group of boys put in all the hard work without any guarantee of success, but never gave up and toiled all day long, to ensure that the academy could be functional within 6 months. Today, it is known as the Spartans Cricket Academy and Ravi’s dream of more kids taking up cricket in his hometown, has become a reality.

The academy coaches kids in Jodhpur, who want to take up the sport seriously and they all have just these boys to thank.

                     

                Now: Spartans cricket academy. Image courtesy: Facebook

The academy wasn’t close to Ravi’s home and he used to travel 20 kms by a bicycle, gifted to him by his coaches. The day used to start as early as 5am and the routine included: some fitness drills, travel to the academy for practice, back home and travel to the academy again in the evening.

That makes it 80km... daily.

Ravi started as a medium pacer at the academy. If not for 2 local coaches Shahrukh Pathan and Pradyot Singh, who quit their jobs to build the academy & help children learn cricket, things would have been very different. One day, these 2 coaches asked him to bowl some leg-spin at the nets.

The rest is history.

Ravi with coaches. Image courtesy: Indianexpress.com

A year after the academy was ready, BCCI banned the Rajasthan Cricket Academy (RCA) and this was a major setback for Ravi. For the next few years, there were no selection tournaments to showcase his talent. Sometimes, there were net trials. Multiple times, Ravi used to wait to bowl at the nets but never got a chance and was very disappointed.

For 3 years he tried his luck to get a break in the U-16 & U-19 Rajasthan team, but nothing worked. He wanted to give up. He said he is not cut out for it. All the hard work was of no use.

Something good was in store but he had to make a tough choice.

He had to appear for his Class 12 Board exams. But this big milestone clashed with a chance to bowl in the nets to the Rajasthan Royals team. His father, being a headmaster, wanted him to attend the exam. He considered skipping the nets, as he wasn’t getting a chance to bowl anyway.

Destiny is a strong force.

Ravi’s coaches convinced ‘Browny’, as he was called in his circle, to hang around. ‘Browny, it's now or never’ these words made the difference in Ravi Bishnoi’s life when he chose to back his passion over his dad's orders. He finally got a chance to bowl and this was the opportunity he was looking for.

His name started doing the rounds in the Rajasthan circle. There was as star leg-spinner in the making.

His coaches had convinced Ravi that he was good enough and told him that his time would come, in the big stage. And it did, in 2019.

During the Vinoo Mankad trophy trials, as usual, Ravi was ignored by the selectors. This time Ravi’s coaches did not give up and requested the selectors to give Ravi one chance. Sometimes, you just need to ask, ‘that one more time’. 

Ravi was finally picked for the Rajasthan U-19 team to play against Kerala. He weaved his magic and got a ‘fifer’ on debut. This put him on the flight to South Africa for the U-19 World cup. 

            

                Debut in Vinoo Mankad trophy. Image courtesy: twitter

Ravi with the Indian U-19 team. Image courtesy: indiatoday.in

It was dream world cup for him individually, though India did not win the final. He ended up as the highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

In a leadership training that I had attended earlier this year, a leader had defined ‘Resilience’ as ‘the ability to bounce forward’.  That is exactly what Ravi had done. Just kept working hard, learnt from the past but did not let it affect him and kept marching forward.

Kumble & Warne inspired him. Bishnoi was just 6 years old when Warne retired. Hence, he did not get a lot of opportunities to watch the master live, but he learnt a lot from watching their YouTube videos on a friend’s phone. That is how he learnt the googly, by watching the back of the hand a thousand times and practising it.

As fate would have it, Ravi is a part of the Kings XI Punjab team in IPL 2020 and guess who the head coach is… Anil Kumble.

The topic of IPL was banned in the U-19 team, as it would distract the youngsters. But when he was picked by Punjab during the auction, Ravi and his family were elated.

Ravi has worked hard, built his arsenal and added the googly to his repertoire. Actually, he bowls more googlies than a traditional leg spin delivery! He now wants to learn to bowl the flipper from Anil Kumble! Wow, that will be some collection.

He admires Rashid Khan, Chahal & Ashwin’s mind games and wants to learn from them. It is all in the mind, he says, and what better stage than the IPL, to absorb from the stars!

He has been bowling exceedingly well for Punjab and has a big heart to toss the ball up during power plays. The captain and coach have shown tremendous confidence in the youngster and he hasn’t disappointed.

Image courtesy: twitter

A boy who made his cricketing dreams come true, now dreams of dismissing Steve smith in the IPL. Knowing how seriously he takes his dream, I won’t be surprised if he gets him out.

India is blessed to have such talented youngsters. With his bowling variations, aggression, positive attitude, fighting spirit, willingness to learn combined with the perfect coach, he is on his way to make a big impact.