Hemang Badani - Talent that is being talked about

Hemang Badani, is according to many, the new talent to talk about. Most of his teammates and coach Kapil Dev, talk quite highly about him. Badani, himself has aspirations to carve out a niche for himself in the international arena. Today at the Dhaka Sheraton hotel, the 23- year old Badani spoke about his dreams and struggles.

Badani came into cricket quite by chance, even though he liked the game from a very young age. At the age of nine, his father, Kamal Badani, who was a C divison player took him to watch a game in which he was playing in Chennai. Hemang always used to travel with his father in whites. On that particular day in 1985, the club had a shortage of players. As a result, Hemang was given a chance to play the game. And while batting at number 11, he saved the match for the side. It was then that Badani's father decided, to push his son into the game.

Initially, Badani was a left arm medium pacer. However, because of his height, his coach Swathi asked him to bowl spin. Badani, however, did not really enjoy bowling all that much and soon became attracted to batting. He made his A division debut in the Chennai league when he was in Class XI and since then has not really looked back. However, it was the home series against South Africa A side a few years back that brought him into national reckoning. In the three `Test' matches and the three one day internationals that he played, Badani was the highest run getter amongst all the players of both the sides. That brought him into the Ranji Trophy squad.

Badani made his debut against Kerela, quite by chance. Describing the circumstances, Badani said today, "I was initially selected to play the one day game during the 1996-97 season. Even our captain, Robin Singh, came and told me that I was not being considered for the four day match. However, I scored 75 at a stage when our side was 150-odd for five wickets chasing a score of over 260. It was on the basis of that innings that Robin included me in the four day squad."

The Ranji Trophy semi-final this year against Mumbai was another turning point in his career. He got 170 against an attack that consisted of Ajit Agarkar, Abey Kuruvilla, Sachin Tendulkar. Talking about the match Badani said, "After the match when I approached Tendulkar for a discussion on my batting he asked me to maintain my downswing with the bat. He just told me that it was fantastic and I should never lose it. That was quite an inspiration for me."

At the moment, Badani's aim is to establish himself. Even though he likes to bat at number three, he is ready to bat at any number to establish himself. "My first priority is to establish myself in the Indian side and for that I am ready to bat anywhere." He also has a large number of idols - Kapil Dev, Vivian Richards, Wasim Akram, Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar and off course, Sir Gary Sobers.. As a left hander, he is also a fan of David Gower. Badani also is thankful to people like Swathi, Shyamsundar and the former India captain, Krishnamachari Srikkanth. "When I played against South Africa, Chika Sir (Srikkanth) gave me quite a few valuable tips. Even now, if I have a problem, I go back to Chika Sir," said one of the most promising cricketers of the country.

The road ahead for Badani will be tough. But he has it in him to come good where it matters the most. The youngster is the most exciting talent that has come out of India in recent times.