U-19 World Cup: From Rewa, Saumy Pandey, the boy who could be the next Ravindra Jadeja

The run-up is brisk and measured. The action is fluent and simple. The ball travels the perfect line and lands where he wants it to. The ball often skids off the surface, some break away from the right-handed batsman.

Combine his wiry frame and the fiery attitude, little wonder that Saumy Pandey is likened to Ravindra Jadeja, his idol. Like Jadeja in the 2008 U-19 World Cup, he is enjoying a breakout campaign—his 17 wickets have come at an average of 8.47; the economy rate is a thrifty 2.44.

The comparison is unfair, says his father Krishna Kumar Pandey, a Hindi teacher in a government school in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district. ‘I teach Hindi literature, so I am a bit strict on giving good grades. If people are comparing him with Ravindra Jadeja, it is not fair. Jadeja has played fifteen years of cricket, he has earned 100 marks in his career. He has done the hard yards, worked hard to reach at this level and has won so many games for India,’ he explains to this paper.

His son, on the other hand, ‘has yet to earn that first mark in his career’. ‘Mujhe lagta hai Saumy abhi shunya pe hai (At present Saumy is on a zero),’ he says.