CHENNAI: At a time when there is a lot of competition in every industry, this Surat-based professional gamer, who is a pro at Counter Strike: Global Offensive, has carved a niche for himself in the gaming world. Ranjit Patel, (20), kept his passion for gaming flaring despite having to commit to academics on the side.
Gaming was never on his mind until he was introduced to Counter Strike: Global Offensive. “I started playing consoles from when I was six, but that was just during holidays. But it was in 2007 that I discovered Counter Strike 1.6 through my neighbour Rahul, who gave me a copy. I actually took it for my brother who loved playing cricket at that time and represented Gujarat in various age groups. But he did not get time to play Counter Strike because of his matches, and so I started playing it. And this is how my association with the gaming world began,” says Ranjit.
The ace Counter Strike player is of the view that the gaming world is very competitive, but it provides many opportunities as well. “The money is amazing, especially when you get into E-sports. You can be a player, a coach, a manager, get into production side of things or you could even be a caster, analyst or a host...the possibilities are endless,” he says.
Ranjit shares that despite the competition which exists in the gaming world, the community always comes forward to help their counterparts. “A team known as SK Gaming (Formerly known as Kabum. TD) which had won the CS:GO Major ( It is the most prestigious tournament in CS:GS) twice, did not have enough money to travel for a tournament three years back. But one of the players appealed to the gaming community he was part of, and voila, they raised funds and were finally able to take part in that tournament!” he recalls.
The gamer recently participated in the ESL India Premiership tournament and also competes in other tournaments when he gets the time. At present, he is competing in the ESL India Corporate Challenge, where big corporate companies like the Viacom network are also competing. Ranjit attributes his success in gaming to hard work and commitment. “For example, look at the way Virat Kohli has owned his game...the level of discipline and sincerity he exhibits is something that I draw inspiration from,” he smiles.
Ranjit follows a strict schedule which he occasionally alters based on requirements of the game. He says, “Before any match, I spend about 30 to 45 minutes practicing the physics of the game.” Besides playing CS:GS, this engineering student from Sarvajanik College of Engineering and Technology, Surat has his own TV show (ESL India Premiership), handled by Nodwin Gaming and aired on Dsport (Discovery Sport) which is a merger between Star Sports and Discovery network.