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In high spirits
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P. Akshath Reddy is confident that his recent trip to Australia for Commonwealth Under 16 cricket series will stand him in good stead in future
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PHOTO: K. RAMESH BABU
BOY WONDER Produturi Akshath Reddy strikes a pose.
Produturi Akshath Reddy, one of Hyderabad's most promising young cricketers recently returned from Australia after taking part in the Commonwealth Under 16 cricket series, which was held in Darwin. He represented the team, which was fielded by the School Games Federation of India in the tournament. Two other teams were also involved - one from UAE and one from the host country which was the Sports School Australia XI.
Batting trouble
A total of five matches were played by the Indian team and Akshath got to play in four of them. Although Akshath did not come up with any extraordinary performances it was not due to his lack of ability but due to the fact that he was sent in to bat at number five or six despite having made his mark in the game mainly as a prolific opening batsman.
As a result of batting low down in the order, he hardly had the opportunity to show his prowess with the bat.
Akshath feels that had he been given a better chance, he would have shown his mettle.
He has provided ample proof of his potential time and again while playing for his school, his club and also the state under 15 side in the south zone tournaments.
He also put up laudable performances for the Hindi Mahavidyalaya team which took part in the BPCA inter academies cricket tournament in Bangalore recently.
In that tournament he scored an unbeaten 164 with nine sixers off only 79 balls against Mishra CA of Delhi and followed it up with an unbeaten 96 against Chatterjee CA Kolkata and then hammered 91 against BHS Bangalore.
These good scores along with several other good knocks enabled him to aggregate 563 runs in the tournament. For this feat he was adjudged the Best Batsman of the tournament.
Early feats
Earlier in the inter schools cricket tournament in Hyderabad, Akshath was thrice adjudged Man of the Match and he also bagged the Man of the Series title at the end of the tournament.
Clearly he is disappointed at not having been given a better opportunity in the Commonwealth tour but his spirits are still high as he says that he has learnt a lot on the tour.
"It was a good experience to play on bouncy pitches in Australia and I learnt how to tackle fast bowling. I am now a more confident and better organised player after the Australian experience," he says.
The host team defeated the Indian team by 30 runs in the final and he gives full credit to the Aussies who he says showed tremendous commitment. `They were better in all departments," he admits candidly.
"But off the field also it was a memorable trip in many ways. It was my first trip outside the country. I felt that our hosts did everything they could to make us comfortable. The food was a little different for me but I managed," he says.
Akshath who plays for Galaxy CC in the A division league championship, is confident that all the things he has learnt during his trip to Australia will stand him in good stead in future and he will be a better player as a result.
ABHIJIT SENGUPTA
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