The accolades have been torrential for Ahmedabad boy Rush Kalaria (19), a member of the victorious team which won the International Cricket Council-sponsored Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2012. In the 16-day-long international biannual tournament held in Australia between August 11-26, which attracted teams from 16 countries, the India Under-19 XI beat Australia by six wickets in the final. “Life has been a whirl ever since we returned from Australia,” says Rush who together with his team mate from the state, Smit Patel, has become a celebrity in Gujarat.

Although in the World Cup Rush played in only one match against the West Indies, in which he scored three runs and didn’t take any wickets, he was India’s leading wicket-taker in the Under-19 Asia Cup 2012 tournament held in Kuala Lumpur in June, in which he bagged a five-wicket haul against Pakistan in the final which helped India secure a tie.

A final year commerce student of H.L. Commerce College, Ahmedabad, Rush took to the cricket oval when he was a primary school student. Since then, this left arm medium pacer has been representing Gujarat in the Under-15, Under-16 and Under-19 inter-state tournaments. “I also had the opportunity to play on the senior domestic circuit when I was picked for Gujarat in the one-day league,” he says.

Rush attributes his rise to the top in teenage cricket to all the encouragement he received from his father Bipin, an Ahmedabad-based dyes and chemicals trader. “Although he didn’t play serious cricket himself, he is an avid student and follower of the game and provided me every opportunity to develop my bowling and batting skills,” says Rush gratefully.

He is equally beholden to his first coach Jaiprakash Patel, and Tarak Trivedi who coaches him currently. “Both have played important roles in helping me raise my game as did India test star Zaheer Khan. Before we left to play the World Cup in Australia, Zaheer gave me valuable advice to improve my line, length, and control,” he recalls.

In the final year of his degree programme, Rush admits it’s a trifle difficult to concentrate on studies in the midst of so much cricket and all the felicitations. “It’s distracting but one learns to manage,” says Gujarat’s new cricket star who was awarded a special prize of Rs.5 lakh for doing his bit to bring the Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2012 to India.

R.K. Misra (Gandhinagar)

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