At various stages, Kerala raised visions of entering the knockout phase of Ranji Trophy 2015-16, but a loss to Himachal Pradesh dashed their hopes in the last minute. But even amidst that collective disappointment, the personal effort of Rohan Prem would have come as a massive relief, a ray of hope for the upcoming assignments. Of course, Rohan is not a new name for those who followed Kerala cricket. He made his Ranji debut 10 seasons back as an 18-year-old with a lot of promise. In those 10 summers, Rohan has achieved some fine feats for Kerala like entering the 3000-run club and becoming the leading century-maker for the state with nine hundreds. Three of those came this season alone. He scored over 700 runs at a shade over 58 to feature among the top 10 run-getters at this stage. His form has been instrumental in Kerala’s charge despite a string of low scores by skipper Sanju V Samson. But more than those impressive numbers, the consistency that Rohan showed throughout the season has been more remarkable. Rohan was also quite chuffed at that. “I am quite happy to contribute in my own way to the team’s success and performance. Hopefully, I can keep this form for a long time,” he said. Rohan said the pre-season training and minor technical tweaks in his game helped him achieve consistency. The state selectors too kept a note of Rohan’s performance. When Sanju opted out of captaincy to concentrate more on his batting, the bigwigs did not have to search beyond the left-hander. They entrusted Rohan with the leadership of the team in the longer format.

He also dusted off the off-spin this season, and his four for 44 against Services played a big role in Kerala gaining the first-innings lead. “I am quite happy to contribute with the ball too. I am working on my bowling now, and hopefully, I can bowl longer spells in the coming days,” he added.

Nikin Jose, eyeing a bright future

There have been several thousands of youngsters in India who want to make it big in cricket. Some realise their ambitions, and some other fail to make the cut. Nikin Jose is one of those youngsters, who has made the right beginning. The 15-year-old has been in contention for a berth in the India Under-19 squad recently but he will have to wait some more time to earn a national cap. However, Nikin has ample time to convert his dreams into a reality. Nikin, a hard-hitting batsman and a handy off-spinner, has left his indelible mark in the Under-14, Under-16 and Under-19 tournaments, besides, churning out some impressive efforts in the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) for Mysore Warriors. “I need to keep working on my technique, so that I can play in all formats. During the KPL, I got a chance to interact with senior players like C M Gautam and Manish Pandey which was very useful for me as I learned a lot about their preparations and the challenges they need to tackle at a higher level,” said Nikin. RX Muralidhar, the Warriors’ coach, too predicted a bright future for Nikin. “Nikin has good skill sets and he is mentally strong than a normally 15-year-old kid. He has good situational awareness too for such a youngster,” he said.

Nikin has showed his leadership qualities as well. He had led Karnataka to win in the Vijay Merchant Trophy (South Zone), and the right-hander scored 461 runs in that tournament. He also has been a part of Karnataka under-19 team for the inter-zonal Vinoo Mankad (South Zone) Trophy. Perhaps, they are just the first steps before grabbing some bigger feats.

The never-dying spirit Cricket has touched the lives of people across the age barrier in different ways. The C Pitchaiah Memorial Veteran Cricket tournament in Andhra was one such occasion. Four teams from different parts of Andhra and Telengana participated in this tournament, where bonhomie was more important than the end result. Teams were mostly comprised of sexagenarians who assembled from various parts of the two states, and this was the second edition of the tournament. Many of the participants have taken a temporary break from their professions such as doctor, banker, businessmen, industrialist etc to participate in the event, and soak in the thrill of cricket. Some had played league cricket in their younger days as well.

C Arun Kumar, one of the players and an organiser, said they have travelled to various countries for veteran tournaments and more trips to Sri Lanka, Australia and Singapore have been mooted. For these veterans, the journey has just begun. Inter-collegiate cricket The 14th South Indian Inter-collegiate T20 cricket tournament will be held from January 4 to 12, 2016 at Warangal. 54 teams from across the South Indian colleges will take part in the event that will feature as many as 810 players. The Hyderabad Cricket Association has sanctioned the event and will provide 20 umpires for the tournament.