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Heroes welcome D. Siva Kumar getting a rousing reception on return after winning the Under-19 World Cup in Kaula Lumpur

This was what an extremely happy Ms. Ramani, mother of D. Siva Kumar said while recounting with her husband Rama Rao, Secretary of Hyderabad Urban Development Authority, how her son made the progress over the years and sharing the family’s joy over the win and the adulation her son received when he returned home from Kuala Lumpur with a gold medal and fat cheque for Rs. 15 lakhs.

This upper middle class family is not an exception from many other families when it comes to a choice between education and sports for the children. Initially Siva Kumar’s parents have not encouraged his cricket but his elder brothers, particularly the eldest Sravan Kumar who represented the district in the past and now a B. Tech. graduate, understood that his youngest brother is really talented and convinced his parents that he could continue with the sport.

Siva Kumar started playing cricket from seven years ago and with the family started encouraging him went from strength to strength. A good medium pacer and a good middle order bat, Siva Kumar represented the district and went on to play for Andhra in the junior age groups and led Andhra in the under-19 South Zone tournament. His talent put him in the South Zone team and good performance there earned him a place in the Indian team that toured South Africa for a tri-series with Bangladesh.

He was declared Man of the Match twice in the tri-series and in the final against Bangladesh he has done a Miandad, hitting a six off the last ball to score the required six runs for victory and a place in the Indian team for the under-19 World Cup is assured for the Visakhapatnam youngster who just completed 17 years.

Siva Kumar is little bit disappointed that he could not play many matches in Kuala Lumpur. “There are many seniors in the team who played in one or two (junior age group) World Cups in the past and the team management did not want to disturb a winning combination. There are also players like Mukund who have not played a single match”, he said.

But in the two initial league matches, Siva Kumar made his presence felt. Against New Zealand he scored 18 runs and picked up a wicket and against England hit 21 runs and claimed a wicket.

On the Indian team he said it was a highly talented and confident unit and captain Virat Kohli interacted well with the team members and is an aggressive captain.

Recollecting the tour, Siva Kumar said that it was bad luck that the team could not score a big total against South Africa in the final. On the mood of the team as South Africa prepared to chase the Indian total, Siva Kumar said coach Dave Whatmore encouraged the boys a lot. He reminded them that they had dismissed the same team for 150 in the league phase and told them to bowl in their original manner. Through out the tournament the planning was good and positive aspects of the players were only stressed, he said.

For the Vizag youngster who is inspired by Sachin Tendulkar and Y. Venugopala Rao, the ambition is to play for India in the senior level.

Mr. Rama Rao is sure that his son will make it to the seniors team if he is consistent.

Siva Kumar is one of the three players selected by the Andhra Cricket Association for a training stint at the Brisbane Cricket Academy. He is at present doing B.Com. first year in Dr. L. Bullayya College.

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