Boss of the full toss
SOUVIK CHOWDHURY
K. Ramesh Babu
HYDERABAD
It takes a lifetime for some to get closer to a dream. In the case of 11-year-old Praneeth Jetti, it just took two bottles of his favourite cool drink.
Praneeth was selected from a nationwide draw of lots of more than 50,000 entries to witness the toss between two captains in one of the semi-finals, in the recently concluded ICC Champion's Trophy.
It was unfortunate that India did not qualify, or else Praneeth would have had a chance to be closer to his favourite captain, Saurav Ganguly. Nevertheless, the aspiring cricketer was there in the middle of the ground Rose Bowl at Southampton to witness the toss between West Indies' captain Brian Lara and Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.
Glows with pride
He is at a loss of words to express his feelings when Lara walked him down from the pitch to the boundary after the toss, with a hand on his shoulder. "It was great," Praneeth, says deliriously, adding, "He asked me questions like which school and class I studied and my favourite cricketer. He wowed when I told him I want to grow up and play for India."
Apart from taking autographs and photographs with Lara, the Std. VI student of St. Alphonso's, Hyderabad, met a host of other cricketing greats like Kapil Dev and Tony Greig, who interviewed the youngster later.
A right-hand fast bowler and left-hand batsman, Praneeth, who is coached by John Manoj at St. John's Cricket Academy in the city, even made his own observation of the pitch at Rose Bowl. "It was a bowling pitch."
Accompanied by his father, Jetti Kusum Kumar, Praneeth visited the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace during his three-day trip to England, which was sponsored by Pepsi.
While the visit has been tremendously encouraging and inspirational for the unassuming youngster, he knows he cannot rely on cool drinks to get lucky anymore.
Not when he wants a berth in the Indian cricket team. For now, he has to work hard and play harder.
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