Priyam Garg, India’s newest young talent from Uttar Pradesh, has credited his father for his success in the game of cricket so far after being named the captain of the Indian U-19 team for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2020 to be held in South Africa.

The 19-year-old was given huge responsibility to lead the 15-member squad in the prestigious tournament given his stellar show in the domestic circuit for his state side – Uttar Pradesh.  

He had a wonderful 2018-19 Ranji season having finished as the second-highest run-getter for Uttar Pradesh with 814 runs at an average of 67.83 with a maiden double hundred against Tripura.

Read Also: India announces 15-member squad for ICC U-19 World Cup 2020

The right-hander, who has 539 List-A runs at an average of 41.5 including one hundred and three half-centuries to his name, had captained India Under-23 team to a series win against Bangladesh.

Now, the four-time U-19 World Cup champions India will be eying to lift their fifth title under Priyam who revealed his father has done all the odd jobs to see him become a cricketer.

Garg told The Indian Express, “My father did most of the hard work, he did all the odd jobs that you can imagine… selling milk, driving school vans, loading goods, he ensured that I got a good life. He went through all that just to see me become a cricketer one day. He took me to Meerut and made sure that I got into a decent academy.”

Meanwhile, the young batsman’s father said that all his worries went away, when one day he spoke to Rahul Dravid, as he carried on working hard for his son. He said, “I am not well educated, what do I do know of cricket? But one day, I met Rahul Dravid and he told me not to worry and that my son would go places. I was happy that day.”

Noteworthy, the U-19 World Cup will get underway on 17 January in South Africa with India playing their first match against Sri Lanka on 19 January at Bloemfontein.

(With The Indian Express Inputs)