Five thousand balls a day and one promise: the making of Abhigyan Kundu

As a kid, Abhigyan Kundu was extremely active. He would run around all day and play in his society compound in Vashi in Navi Mumbai. His school teachers advised his parents to help him channelise this energy into sports, and he was soon enrolled at the Chetan Jadhav Cricket Academy.

Chetan Jadhav, who runs the academy, had a target of "making an India player" ever since he got into coaching about two decades ago. Based out of Navi Mumbai, a satellite city near Mumbai, he had several students in his academy but most would either quit within months or years to pursue engineering or medicine.

"In Navi Mumbai alone, 44 engineers and about five doctors were once upon a time players at my academy," Jadhav tells ESPNcricinfo. "I so wanted someone to come to me and learn cricket."

One of those doctors, Saurabh Patil, played an indirect role in fulfilling Jadhav's dream, suggesting to Kundu's father, Abhishek, that they enrol their son in Jadhav's academy.

"I was bored of being a babysitter," Jadhav says. "People used to leave their kids at my academy between 10 am and 6pm when they went to work, and picked them up in the evening when they returned. They knew about the discipline I maintained at my academy and I taught them cricket at that time. But not everyone, or their parents, was interested in cricket."

So Jadhav began interviewing the parents and their kids before admitting them to his academy. When Kundu's parents came to him, Jadhav, at first, was slightly exasperated by the similar pattern he'd seen - working professionals bringing their kid to his academy. He asked them what they wanted to do.

"We go for work throughout the day, so want Kundu to be here under your guidance," they said.

"Do you want him to be a cricketer?" Jadhav specifically asked. He got the answer he wanted. "We won't interfere much, you can shape him as you like."

"I understood haa dila mala. Uchalla tyaala aani gheun aalo (they've given him to me. I picked him up and brought him with me)!" The elation in Jadhav's voice is unmistakable. Kundu was only five years old then. He was dedicated and made it to the academy every single day.

"After three years, when Abhigyan was 8, we got a feedback from Chetan Jadhav that if you want to put him into full-time coaching with me, we can work towards something good coming from it," Abhishek says. "That got us thinking. He also played with various age-group players by then and liked it. He was passionate about it and so we went with the flow.

"Chetan also told us that if he has to be a professional cricketer, you have to do something different. You cannot put him into coaching for two-three hours and expect something great, it won't help. If you are really thinking of driving him towards a professional career, it will be good if he can be with me for a longer duration, I can work on him more then. He gave us that confidence and we went along."

Jadhav, 54, was a professional cricketer and played club cricket in Mumbai's A Division and played in the Times Shield till about two to three years ago. Growing up, he was coached by Ramakant Achrekar, Sachin Tendulkar's coach, and had seen the likes of Amol Muzumdar, Sameer Dighe, Pravin Amre and Vinod Kambli climbing the ladder. He also closely watched how Achrekar's academy identified players early and worked with them, and followed the same path.

Jadhav had once overheard Achrekar telling a few of the coaches at his club that you are a good coach only if you create at least one India player, which then became his motto. He was bowling 5000 balls to Kundu right from the start. Even now, when they train together, like they did before the Under-19 World Cup, Kundu doesn't stop before facing at least 1000-1500 balls per day.

"I decided to put a lot of effort into creating Kundu the player," Jadhav says." I erected nets below his building and trained him there also. So from 9:30am to about 6-7pm, we practiced at my academy and then till about 11pm, we had net sessions in his building. He fought back aches and wrist pain but never missed training. In fact, he scored two double centuries in club matches while suffering from typhoid.

"I worked on him very hard to make him into so good a player that he should progress the ranks without vashila (clout)."

Jadhav maintains scorecards of each of Kundu's club cricket outings and says that he has scored 125 centuries till date. That tally includes 15 double-centuries, two triple hundreds and two 400-plus scores. As per Jadhav, Kundu had also played 722 club games before he played for India Under-19.

"There is no situation we haven't trained for," he says. "During monsoon, when the indoor academy I previously had access to denied me entry, Kundu and I trained in the rain. We have practised in slushy outfields while being drenched, we have trained under the harsh afternoon sun."

At 14, Kundu made his Mumbai Under-16 debut in the Vijay Merchant Trophy 2022-23 and was their highest run-getter with 690 runs, including a double century, at an average of 86.25 and a strike rate of 121.90. The following season, he made his Mumbai Under-19 debut in their title win in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy. And there was no looking back. He got his first India Under-19 call-up in December 2024 for the series against Australia Under-19 and scored a fifty in just his second outing.

"When I heard the news of Kundu getting selected for India U-19, and even when I gave a few interviews around the time, I did not feel much," Jadhav recalls. "He had sent me a photo of him in the India jersey. I then went to Pondicherry to watch that series. When I actually saw Kundu standing in front of me with that [BCCI] logo on his chest, that time [the volume of his achievement] struck me and I broke down. I couldn't stop crying; I just stood still for a little. My entire life has been spent aiming for that logo, and it was like a dream come true for me."

In the lead up to the Under-19 World Cup 2026, Kundu was part of tours to England, Australia and South Africa and made noteworthy contributions, while his belligerent team-mates Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre grabbed headlines with one blazing knock after the other. Like his unbeaten 74-ball 87 against Australia Under-19 in Brisbane. Or his 80 off 112 balls against Bangladesh Under-19 earlier in this World Cup after India Under-19 had lost three wickets inside ten overs. Kundu also scored 209 not out against Malaysia at the Under-19 Asia Cup last December but the match did not have an official youth ODI status. He is currently India Under-19's second-highest run-getter as they gear up to face Afghanistan Under-19.

Kundu's call-up for the Under-19 World Cup was the validation for Abhishek that his son was on the right track towards his destination. Work keeps him busy but Abhishek gets regular updates from the matches from the members of his housing society, most of whom are avid cricket watchers. After all, Vashi's bundle of energy is lighting up their, and a nation's, dream.