When Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s sister Rekha brought him to Vipin Vats’ cricket academy in downtown Meerut, the latter hardly noticed anything portentous of his talent. A scrawny teen in skinny, blue jeans and slippers, was Vats’ first recollection of him. Kumar was only 13, neither well built nor tall for his age. And Vats, a former wicketkeeper for UP, had just embarked on his coaching career.
He vividly recollects their first conversation. “He was a very shy kid. But when I asked him what he wants to do, prompt came the reply, ‘I want to bowl.’ I took him to the nets and threw him the ball. I asked him to bowl and show what he can,” he recounts, his voice thrilled like a child.
Vats probably expected what most aspiring bowlers would when asked to bowl - come in and bowl really fast and hard. But he was in for a surprise. “He coolly paced his run-up and marked it. Then almost as if he was in a courtyard cricket match, he began to run in, smoothly and gently. Even from that age he was unaffected by pressure,” he remembers.
He was impressed. But what followed impressed him even more. “He pitched the ball on a good length and made it swing wickedly into the batsman,” he recollects. Vats had no second thoughts about enrolling him into the academy, and special bond fostered between them. But a bigger ask was convincing his parents, from middle-class background, of his calling. “They were initially apprehensive but his sister convinced them. And after he broke into the UP U-15 squad, they were more than convinced of his abilities.”
His sister, in fact, was his staunchest backer. “The Meerut University Ground was near our house and I often used to take him there for local matches. Seeing his interest and passion, I took him to the academy. Our parents didn’t approve of that. But I kept presenting his case and finally, they realised he has genuine potential,” she fondly recollects.