Spinning magic with ball

Eight-year-old Pattapu Raghava is the youngest cricketer in the HCA leagues this season

September 30, 2014 11:59 pm | Updated July 24, 2016 01:43 am IST - HYDERABAD:

Pattapu Raghava

Pattapu Raghava

He is a huge fan of great leg-spinners Shane Warne and Anil Kumble. And, at 8, Pattapu Raghava, the youngest cricketer in the Hyderabad Cricket Association leagues this season, has already caught the attention of the officials and fellow players with his four five-wicket hauls in six games this season playing for Chums XI in the A-Division one-day league.

Stunning performance A performance which is quite stunning given his age and the fact that he drifted into the sport only last year after dabbling in karate (in which he even represented India in international events). This fourth-standard student of Sri International School is clearly in the mood to go places from the by-lanes of Nallakunta in the city. For someone who took to the game watching his uncle and Hyderabad Ranji cricketer P. Shashank Nag, Raghava’s deeds, which need to be consistent as he moves up in the age groups, have already been the talking point now.

This young talent is trains at the Government High School nets on the OU campus under his personal coach and former Hyderabad under-19 cricketer S. R. Mahesh. “Raghava has been handling pressure of playing with senior players with ease and doesn’t seem to be overawed by them,” the coach says. The figures speak for this as the leggie picked 27 wickets this season already from six games.

The shy Raghava is only keen to convey that he would love to play for India one day, with his parents P. Mohan Gandhi and Anupama lending him all the support.

It is pertinent to see how HCA handles such young talent given the fact that in 2006 two school boy cricketers Mohammad Shahbaz Tumbi (324 not out) and B. Manoj Kumar (320 not out) put up a world record partnership of 721 in the HCA Schools League and now struggling to figure anywhere on the radar of performers!

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