CHENNAI: Since being dropped from the India A set up in 2017, Tamil Nadu’s Baba Aparajith has seen others grow up the pecking order. Part of India’s Under-19 World Cup-winning team where he had an outstanding tournament in Australia, the all-rounder has been in the fringes before, most notably with India A teams – considered the feeder system. In no time, he almost disappeared from the national radar, not even finding a place in the Duleep Trophy teams. And on Tuesday, Aparajith received news that he least expected, he was named in the India A team for the upcoming tour of South Africa.
Aparajith was in Lucknow, preparing to head to Delhi to feature in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, where Tamil Nadu are scheduled to play in the quarterfinals. Instead, as the city was receiving a heavy downpour, he landed in Chennai on Wednesday with just few more days left before he joins India A team. “I can’t even say I was expecting or surprised,” Aparajith said. “Because I didn’t even know such a series is lined up. So this was totally out of the blue for me.” One can understand why, he says.
Although he has received the call-up, Aparajith hasn’t had a standout season in Ranji Trophy, but in the 2019/20 Vijay Hazare Trophy he sent a strong reminder tallying 598 runs and backed it with 217 in only five matches last season.
It can be a hard place for cricketers when they totally slip out of national radars. When state teammates move ahead, staying back and doing the hard grind in the nondescript city grounds, turning up in the TNCA first-division can be hard at times. Aparajith has also seen lose his state captaincy and to be back in the reckoning in itself sounds quite an achievement, especially when all of these things happened even before he turned 24.
“There was no bigger motivation than playing,” Aparajith said of those tough days. “The whole aspect of playing the sport is because you love the sport. If you don’t do that, you won’t find motivation elsewhere. The selection and all these things are recognition of playing well and you will feel happy about it. But even when those things are not there to look forward, to keep growing and develop as a cricketer, you need to have love of the sport. I believe that is the biggest motivation.”
The right-handed top-order batsman, who bowls off-spin, also banks on spirituality and enjoying the odd day out with friends. “I know it has really been a very long time since I was part of A tours. But at the end of the day, I was clear in one aspect. I’m extremely driven when it comes to getting better in whatever I do. I wanted to be equipped better to face the different situations that come my way. So be it first division or Ranji Trophy… I wanted to just get better as a batter or as a bowler. When you keep it simple, it is also easy to follow it as a process,” said Aparajith.