In Shubman Gill’s footsteps, Uday Saharan is ready to show his potential in the U-19 World Cup

There are uncanny similarities between Shubman Gill and Uday Saharan. Both scored heavy runs for Punjab in junior cricket, were trained at home by their cricket-crazy fathers, and shifted base to get good facilities. Shubman, the player of the tournament in the 2018 U19 World Cup has graduated to the senior team, while Uday, who will be leading India in this year’s event promises to follow in the footsteps of his senior.

Uday grew up in Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, where his father an ayurvedic doctor used to run his own academy and was introduced to the game when he was just an infant.

“I used to carry him on my lap to the academy. I failed to become a cricketer and I wanted my son to become one. He also showed interest from a very young age and never complained about it,” Saharan tells the Indian Express.

India U-19 captain Uday Saharan with his father Sanjeev Saharan at their home in Sri Ganganagar. (Special Arrangement)

Sanjeev Saharan says he himself was a good cricketer and if he could have gone to Jaipur, instead of Udaipur, he might have played first-class cricket for Rajasthan.

“Back in the 80s, there were only three districts in Rajasthan, where cricketing facilities were good. Those were Jaipur, Udaipur and Ajmer. After I cleared PAT (ayurvedic exam), I got to Udaipur Centre. My coach was Arjun Naidu, a legend for Rajasthan and Rajputana. Till his last breath, he used to tell me if I would have gone to Jaipur, I would have played Ranji Trophy, but it wasn’t meant to be,” says Sanjeev.

At the age 11, like Shubman, Uday too shifted his base. He moved to Fazilka, Punjab, which was 80 km from his village, where his father’s friend was the district association’s president.

“Fazilka was not far. So, we used to travel everyday. But within a year, he was picked for Punjab U14 camp and then I had to drop him to Mohali. It was the first time, he started alone. By the time, I had crossed Ludhiana, he started calling that he wanted to come back. For the next week, I kept making excuses that I would visit him tomorrow. It worked, he started enjoying the camp and when he came back, he asked me to let him join the aerobics classes for fitness. I was amazed,” says Saharan.

Like Lakhwinder Gill, Shubman’s father, Sanjeev Saharan, too, had prepared a net in his backyard, where Uday’s initial training began. Sanjeev nursing his own shattered cricketing dreams, would spend most of his waking hours pouring cricket into Uday.

“In Sri Ganganagar, the temperature goes down till 1 degree in winter. But I have never seen him skipping his training. I guess at a very early age he understood that I am living my dream through him.

“However he did get annoyed as he taunted me ‘yaar papa aap kabhi khush nahi ho sakte mai 100 karu ya 200 karu aapko tab bhi lagta hai ki mai not out hi waapis aau (You are never satisfied with my performances, whether I score 100 or 200, you want to me to remain not out),” laughs Sanjeev.

Uday was among the reserves in 2022, when the Yash Dhull-led team won the title. He was even flown to the Caribbean following a Covid-19 outbreak in the camp. However, he didn’t get a game. But Sanjeev says something changed in his son.

Uday Saharan at the toss during the Quadrangular U-19 series held in India in November last year. (Special Arrangement)

“The car dropped him off at 11 pm on his return, and next day at 6 in the morning, he was ready before me to go to the academy. I asked him to take rest. He would say ‘Papa West Indies mey pata chala bahut kaam karna hai khud pe abhi(I have realised that I need to work a lot on my game),” recalls Sanjeev.

Yuvraj words of wisdom

“There is a different confidence in him now. He has grown in stature after working with Laxman sir (VVS). The way he motivates him it has made him believe that he can achieve anything in cricket,” says Sanjeev.

Uday played U-14 and U-16 from Fazilka, then moved to Bhatinda to play U-19. Despite being from a different state, Sanjeev says his son never faced any difficulties in his progress.

“I always used to narrate to him what Yuvraj Singh once said ‘jab tak ball bolta hai har koi salaam karta hai’ (As long as you keep scoring, everyone will salute you). This mantra has worked for him and now it is because of his talent, he has been made India’s captain,” says Sanjeev.

Uday bats in the middle order like his idol Virat Kohli, is an ambidextrous bowler and his father says, like Kohli, he hates losing.

“Haar isey bardaasht nahi hai (He can’t digest a loss). He gets really upset, be it the academy match or state matches, he always wants to win it for his team,” says Sanjeev.

Uday Saharan was among the reserves in the 2022 U-19 World Cup (Special Arrangement)

Punjab captain Mandeep Singh, calls Uday “changa munda” (good boy), who reminds him of young Shubman. “There is hunger in his belly, and that’s what makes him different. This mentality will take him far and I am sure, he will make it big,” predicts Mandeep, who was part of India’s 2010 U-19 World Cup.

Sanjeev says Mandeep was so impressed with Uday that he gifted him a bat after he pipped him in the Fitness Test.

“In Punjab’s Syed Mushtaq Ali camp, Uday topped the yo-yo test and in the practice match, he scored 108 in 60 balls. Mandeep was impressed and gifted him his bat, with which he scored a century against South Africa U-19 recently,” says Sanjeev.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.