All eyes on this Young fast bowler Rajvardhan Rao in this season’s Giles Shield 2017
Rajvardhan was only in 3rd standard when his potential was identified by Mr. Pravin Gogari who then started bringing him at the DSC ground at an early age. Initial days were good and so one day Pravin sir motivated him and gave him an opportunity to lead as a captain for a tournament when he was just 8 years old and under his captainship they won the match. Raj scored 69 runs in the first match.
Later with the help and guidance of Shri Dilip Mhambre, Raj got admission in one of the most reputed school for sports- Vidya Mandir School (VPM). During this period he met the most respected cricket coach Vidya Paradkar (mentor of Zaheer Khan, Ajinkya Rahane, Hasib Hamid amongst others). Vidya sir identified his potential as a pacer and started his training towards it. His mother, Mrs. Pooja Rao also took lots of effort to take him every day by local trains from Dahisar to Chruchgate (i.e. Cross maidan) during rush hours. Initial days were not that great as an achievement, but eventually due to the vision of Vidya sir he started showing results on the ground.
Raj played Bhaskar Trophy (under 12), 2016. Also Giles shield and Harris shield are been played by Rajvardhan under the guidance of school coach Mr. Shridhar Pathare. His first Giles shield was in 2015-2016 where he took 11 wickets in all. They finished the league as runner ups. Raj’s second Giles shield was in 2016-2017 where took 8 wickets in all. Rajvardhan also got selected in MCA under 14 in April, 2017 summer camp in the Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana Team, Kandivali. His team was a runner up. He scored 50* and 5 wickets in all. In 2017, Raj got an opportunity to play Worli Cup from the team Dadar Parsi Club (DPC) lead by Bhosle Sir and in Harris shield in 2017, he took 2 wickets in 2 matches.
His consistent run with the ball continued and finally his refined perfomance what he is actually capable of came off in the third Giles shield in 2017-2018 which is still going on. In the first match he took a stunning 7wkt haul while giving away just 20 runs in 6.1 overs and in the second match he took 5 wickets for mere 7 runs with 1 maiden & 5 overs. In his first match which was played at the United Cricketers ground against Children’s Aid Society, Rajvardhan completely ripped though the entire batting line up as he single handedly troubled the batsman with his impressive pace, line and length. It was his bowling spell which helped his team win the match in a commanding fashion by 363runs. The 2nd match which followed for Rajvardhan was equally impressive as this time he helped his team defend a low total of 145runs against the promising Ryan International School. Right arm fast bowler Rajvardhan came up with another match-winning bowling figures of 5/7 in 5 overs which restricted the opposition to just 32runs all out and eventually winning the match by 113runs.
Not only has Rajvardhan showed genuine potential as a pace spearhead who can make you win matches single handedly on his day but he has also displayed consistent progress in the last 2years. Also with the line and length coupled with the discipline at which he is bowling, Rajvardhan looks poised for a bright journey ahead in cricket.
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