Emerging from the shadows

While Sushil Nadkarni has been the talk of the country's cricket community in the last several months, a certain Niraj Shah from the same Houston Cricket League has been emerging from Sushil's shadow, to develop into one of the finest allrounders in the country. Over the span of a year and a half Niraj has played a major part in several major tournaments in the country eventually leading to the National selectors taking notice of this young lad and awarding him with a place in the USA National squad.

If Sushil has been the Tendulkar of Texas, Niraj has been accumulating runs with a Dravid-like consistency. It all began for him in the 2005 Central West Regional championships in Colorado where he bagged the MVP award for his allround performances. Later in the year, he captained the MLC Texas team to victory in the National Interstate tournament where he scored an unbeaten half century in the finals to see his team through. Another good fifty in a pressure-cooker situation at the Central West Regional finals, 2006 in Austin was followed by scores of 70, 106 not out and 59 in the National Western Conference Championships in LA which earned him the Best Batsman award and a National call-up.

During the recently concluded Houston Twenty20 championships where Niraj led his team to a championship victory with an incredible allround performance in the finals, Vinod Periagaram got a chance to talk to the emerging 24-year-old star.

I have been consistent with the bat for the past two seasons now. I have stopped taking risks and have cut down on my aerial shots unless I am absolutely positive and am well set. My focus has been to be patient, play long and finish good. Although I have been consistently scoring fifties, my goal has been to convert those into big hundreds more often, since that is the hallmark of a great batsman. Hopefully, I can carry on the consistency I have over the past two years.

Actually, I had to work really hard to perfect this shot. I was a strong front-foot player in the early years. I was never able to get runs on the back-foot which was exploited by good bowlers. I had to work a lot on fetching runs on the back-foot before my coach, Shailesh Pandya, helped me with my grip. I used to have a top handled grip which I changed to a bit lower and that has helped me grow as a strong back-foot player. Also, the back-and-across technique helps me see the ball early enough to play the pull and the cut shots.

I certainly consider myself a genuine allrounder. In fact, in my early days my fellow cricketers used to call me a bowler who can bat. I have been consistently taking wickets at every level. I am working on consistency with both, but there is always a room for improvement.

What helped me most was that I had experience playing on turf wickets back in India before playing here in the US on the concrete wickets. However, I have played on these concrete wickets for quite a while and was used to playing on them and hence I had to revert to a technique which helped me succeed on turf wickets. As everyone knows, the ball comes onto the bat really well on concrete wickets where poor foot-work does not make much of a difference if your hands are coordinating well with your eyes. The turf wickets are very different where you have to wait for the ball to play the shots, plus you have to adjust your footwork with quality fast bowlers who can cut and swing the ball both ways. You need to have really good footwork to play on turf wickets and have to be selective in shot making.

I have played Under-16, Under-19, and Under-22 for Gujarat. I have played with a lot of first-class cricketers all over and especially in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where I have played all my life. I have also been a first-vlass cricketer in India playing the All-India University tournament representing Gujarat. We used to play on matting or turf which is much different than astroturf on concrete. I would admit that it is rather a batsman's paradise on concrete, whereas it was not easy on the turf or matting where bowlers can exploit the conditions and make you work really hard for runs.

Thank you. I am really happy to be named as one of the few National players out of thousands. The biggest reason for my selection in the US team is my performance over the past Memorial weekend in LA where I got the Best Batsman of the Western Conference award. Although, I wasn't convinced that this was enough to have cemented a berth in the National side as I have not been here for very long, I believe I have had considerable performances throughout the Houston/Texas/Central West Regional tournaments, and I am very fortunate to have been chosen.

I do a 45-minute cardio every day. I aim to strengthen my legs and not get tired. I practice three days a week. My main focus is to bat as long as possible without getting tired and even after getting tired to not throw my wicket away. I am on a special and a very healthy diet plan as well. The biggest goal I have is to help, in each and every way I can, to win the Championship for my team. I believe in the phrase cricket is a TEAM game and I will do anything and everything my captain and my team needs me to do.

Yes, most certainly. We know that people here do not have eight hours to spend on a sport which they do not know or understand. Diversification is definitely needed where we can attract more viewers and fans. I certainly think Twenty20 cricket along with the six-a-side can create a lot of interest amongst the locals.

Chirag Bhakta