‘Mature’ Sankar looks to spin way into national side
Steven Sankar is aiming to secure a spot back in the Guyana Jaguars’ feeder programme, the Cricket Guy Inc., Academy with the goal of representing Guyana at the senior level.
It is a well-known fact that these days on the local cricketing circuit, leg-spinners are like finding needles in a haystack.
To find one of quality is an even more daunting task.
Sankar, who was part of the Academy four years ago, is widely regarded as one of the premier ‘leggies’ plying his trade on the domestic scene.
Despite no contractual obligations, the 24-yearold is often seen training with a few of his contracted teammates.
Stabroek Sport ventured to one of these sessions and discussed with Sankar his desire to one day represent Guyana.
“Well, I played all youth levels for Guyana and bagged most wickets in the various U-15, U-17, U-19 regional tournaments,” Sankar reminisced.
“But playing for Guyana has always been part of my dreams so I will always be passionate about it and I will always continue to work towards it.
“Over the last few years I think I’ve developed more mentally as well and I’ve gotten more mature about my approach as well.
“I feel I deserve to be contracted because of the confidence and passion I possess, the hard work I’ve been putting in and the mindset to give everything I have,” he argued.
In the first year of the CGI Jaguars 50-over franchise league, Sankar represented East Coast and ended the tournament with 20 wickets. He continued to trouble batsmen in the next two seasons when he turned out for Georgetown. In the last season, Sankar finished with 13 wickets, the most by any leg-spinner in the tournament and a best of 5 for 17 against West Berbice.
Sankar noted, “An academy contract would mean a whole lot to me because my job will be something I love doing so there won’t be any issues doing it…I see my career going forward once given the right opportunities to showcase my ability. I’ve been putting in some extra work and hopefully it will be rewarded…I think the academy training will benefit me because of the system it has, it’s a system you can always learn from and the coaches can guide and add more knowledge to my game..”
He added, “There’s always room for improvement but since I’ve been out of the academy I’ve been learning more about the abilities that I have and skill ethics while playing club and franchise cricket.”
The Demerara Cricket Club spinner related that his passion to succeed runs deep and it is his family that keeps him motivated to excel since making them proud is one of the reasons he gets up every day and trains.
“As a leg-spinner I’ve always had variations and basically I’ve just been working on them. I truly believe practice makes perfect so I believe there’s always room for improvement until its mastered,” he stated.
Sankar acknowledged that the road to a senior call up will be no easy task but says he has a plan to simplify his path. “My plan would be simple, work hard, train hard, give a high level of performances in any major cricket being played, maintain consistency as well and never forget to always apply the basics,” he detailed.
“If selected, it would impact me in a huge way because I would definitely tell myself I have nowhere to go but forward and to do whatever it takes to give my team a plus and to gain experience as well personally,” he said.