TIRUCHY: When S Syed Aziz grew up playing gully cricket in the streets of salt town Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam district, little did he know that someday it would fetch him a call from the Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) to represent the country in an international tournament.
An established all-rounder in the district level tournaments in under-16 and under-14 matches by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), the 18-year-old is all set to fly to Kuala Lumpur to don the Malaysian jersey and play against various international teams.
Born to an Indian dad in Malaysia, Aziz was brought up in Vedaranyam at his paternal grandmother’s place and did his schooling in St Antony’s School there. Discovering his love for cricket by playing with neighbour kids, the boy went on to represent Nagapattinam under-14 cricket team in his debut match between the TNCA and Salem in 2011. He scored 124 runs (not out) in a similar TNCA limited-overs tournament against the Tirupur district cricket team in Dindigul.
Similarly, in an under-16 test match, Aziz knocked 208 runs against the Tiruchy district team and bagged six wickets against much stronger Coimbatore district cricket team.
A first-year BBA student at the Bishop Heber College in Tiruchy, Aziz told Express, “It was me who applied online to the Malaysian Cricket Association out of my personal interest and also since my parents are there in Malaysia. On seeing my scorecards and records, they invited me for a practice game in which I registered a six-wicket haul against a national team from a reputed sports school in Malaysia.”
Besides that, he was handpicked by Malaysian cricket coach Tushara Kodikara (former Sri Lankan cricketer) to play in the Malaysian Premier League for Kuala Lumpur team in which he took six wickets and scored 37 runs in six matches against the T20 teams, where the average age of players is 25 years.
Following the successful show, the MCA requested the management of his college to send Aziz to Kuala Lumpur to represent the Malaysian national team in a one-month international tournament to be held from Saturday.
“The international tournament will be attended by reputed professional teams from Sri Lankan Army, Singapore, and Zimbabwe. It will be the best opportunity for me to hone my cricketing skills. However, my dream is to play for India,” he added.
A day ahead of his scheduled flight to Kuala Lumpur, the boy was on Wednesday seen practising at his college ground to fulfil his dream of playing in Indian jersey some day.
Meanwhile, A Palraj, the physical education instructor of the college, said, “We will continue to support Aziz. It is also a matter of pride for us as a student from our college is playing for the Malaysian national team.”