Former BCCI President and Director of Cricket at Delhi Capitals (DC), Sourav Ganguly, was highly impressed with Jharkhand’s young wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushargra during a trial in Kolkata.
It led the former Indian skipper to promise Kushargra’s father that he would bring the young talent at any cost, including INR 10 crore at the IPL 2024 auction.
Interestingly, the Delhi Capitals (DC) snapped up the uncapped Kushargra for INR 7.20 crore at the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai on December 19.
Well, it has now been revealed by Kushagra's father that Ganguly was keen to go all out for the 19-year-old, ready to pay 50 times his base price of INR 20 lakh at the auction.
Kushagra's father Shashikant was quoted as saying by The Indian Express: “After the trials at Eden (Gardens), Ganguly told Kushagra that he would play for the Delhi Capitals and the franchise would bid for him till Rs 10 crore. At the trials, Ganguly was impressed with his six-hitting ability and ability to play the field. His keeping skills also impressed Ganguly and even told him that there is a bit of MS Dhoni in him when he whips the bails.”
He added, “I thought he would get picked by Capitals at base price. For a few minutes, I was so numb. One can only think about miracles, and today was that kind of day. He was confident because Ganguly had promised him, but I thought he must have said this to encourage him.”
Shashikant also recalled the time when Kushagra made the headlines by scoring 266 runs during a Ranji Trophy match for Jharkhand in 2022 and became the youngest ever to score 250 in the tournament.
He recounted, “I had never played cricket at any level. I was just a keen follower. When he was five and started showing interest in cricket, I decided that I would coach him.”
He signed off by saying, “A colleague suggested a book named Art and Science of Cricket by Bob Woolmer. I must have read that book at least four or five times. That book became my coach and I started training Kushagra.”
(With The Indian Express Inputs)
