The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Vizag boy makes it to Indian team

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Tuesday, Jul 03, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Vizag boy makes it to Indian team

Special Correspondent

He is the son of a watchman in the Visakhapatnam civic body

He represented Andhra in under-17, under-19, under-22 and under-25 age groups
He is preparing to appear for intermediate examination

Photo: C. V. Subrahmanyam

Moment to cherish: Collector and president of the Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association A.K. SInghal handing over a cheque for Rs. 10,000 to G.V.S. Prasad in Visakhapatnam on Monday. --

VISAKHAPATNAM: Hard work and dedication made Garikina Venkata Satya Prasad, a city boy from a humble background make it to the Indian under-19 team that will tour Sri Lanka from mid-July for a tri-series and a two-Test series.

Prasad, the only child of Durga Prasada Rao, a watchman at Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and Nookaratnam, and lives near Neelamma Vepachettu, started playing cricket five years ago after watching his maternal uncle Satya Hari, a senior player of the city. He took to off-spin bowling and later on wielded the bat at lower order scoring some important runs.

He represented Andhra in under-17, under-19, under-22 and under-25 age groups. “My role model is Harbhajan Singh and I wish to play for the senior Indian team in future.

Hope I perform well in Sri Lanka and get into the reckoning”, said Prasad.

He is coached by Krishna Rao, and received good support from the late R.V.V.K. Prasad, a person who had nurtured many a budding talent, Andhra Cricket Association secretary N. Venkata Rao, VDCA official secretary K. Parthasaradhy and others, senior players M.S.K. Prasad and Y. Venugopala Rao.

Coaching camp

A stint at the coaching camp at Hyderabad held this season at which Kanwaljeet Singh was the spin bowling coach, helped him a lot. Kanwaljeet had given him many tips which helped him to perform well in the under-19 inter-zone tournament, said Prasad. He was given a chance to play only one match in the tournament but Prasad made good use of the opportunity by took six wickets in the first innings and one in the second innings against Central Zone and played a key role in the team’s comfortable win.

Earlier in the South Zone inter-State under-17 tournaments, Prasad put up a splendid show, taking 13 wickets in a match twice.

This was against Tamil Nadu during the 2004-05 season and against Goa last season. Both times he took five wickets in the first innings and eight in the second.

Prasad, who studied SSC as a private student and is preparing to appear for intermediate examination in one-sitting, is playing for Metro C.C. and Irwin’s Boatyard in the VDCA league. He hopes to play in Hyderabad or Chennai league to improve his off-spin bowling skill.

The VDCA felicitated Prasad on Monday. Collector and president of VDCA A.K. Singhal presented a cheque for Rs.10,000 to Prasad. Vice-presidents P.R. Narayanaswami, P. Vishnu Kumar Raju and D.S. Varma, Mr. Parthasaradhy, joint secretaries G.J.J. Raju, J.K.M. Raju and A.P. Naidu, treasurer S.S.R.K. Prasad and other members of the VDCA congratulated Prasad and wished him success during the Sri Lanka tour.

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