MUMBAI: Chennai Super Kings' youngest ever opener Shaik Rasheed's story is full of struggles, hardships and sacrifices. His father, Shaik Balisha Vali, had to quit his job to ensure his son got proper cricket training. At times, he had to sell fruits to keep the family afloat.
At one point, a couple of Balisha's friends — one of whom is a doctor in Hyderabad with another being a banker in the same city — too gave financial aid to help fuel Rasheed's dreams.
All the hardships and sacrifices culminated with the U-19 side winning the 2022 World Cup when Rasheed was the team's vice-captain. Yet another chapter was added to the fairytale when he impressed on his IPL debut for Chennai against Lucknow a few days ago.
"I saw his innings on TV and was very happy," Balisha told this daily in Telugu (he cannot speak Hindi or English). "I was working in a private company in Hyderabad when Rasheed got selected to a cricket academy in Hyderabad at the age of eight. Two years later, he got selected for the U-14 Andhra team. In my bid to provide him good cricket training, I moved the family comprising me, my wife Jyothi and two sons to Guntur. He was then enrolled at the Mangalagiri Cricket Academy in 2014."
The shift, however, cost Balisha financially as he had to quit his job. "The academy was around 40km from our house. I had to drop him to the academy and pick him up every day so I left my job. I sold fruits in the market to make ends meet. It was a difficult time as my elder son Riyaz, now is working in Hyderabad, was also pursuing studies then."
It was around that time when the doctor, Dr Indrasen Reddy, and the banker, Ulli Srikanth came to his rescue. "They saw the potential in Rasheed and started helping me financially. They are friends and know my financial limitations."
He also credited coaches — AG Prasad, SN Ganesh, Krishna Rao and N Nirmal Kumar — for developing Rasheed's cricketing skills.
The struggles, however, were far from over as travelling to cities like Chennai and Hyderabad for various tournaments was not easy. "I could not afford to reserve seats on the train so we used to travel in the general compartment. Rasheed used to sleep over his cricket kit next to the toilet on many occasions."
The U-19 World Cup changed that. In 2023, Rasheed, a right hand batter and leg break bowler, was picked up by Chennai. By then, Rasheed had already made his senior debut for Andhra across all formats. Rasheed, however, didn't get a game in 2023 and 2024 and was again bought for `30 lakh in the auctions ahead of this year's edition.
The day finally arrived as the five-time champions handed Rasheed an IPL debut against Lucknow and he reposed the faith put on him as he scored 27 off 19 while opening the innings. Incidentally, the match also saw CSK snapping their five-match losing streak in the tournament.
The franchise is known to rely more on experience and only a few youngsters have made it to the playing XI so far and Rasheed is one among them which speaks volumes about his talent.
"I have planned to visit Chennai to watch him in action from the stands. It will be a moment to cherish for a lifetime," signed off Balisha.
The journey this time is going to be pleasant as Balisha will not be travelling in the general compartment and his son, who used to sleep over the kit bag adjacent to the toilet, will have the backing of the entire CSK fans at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai with father in attendance.