From waiting tables in Goa to turning Delhi’s Ranji pace enforcer, Khejroliya’s dream run

NEW DELHI: The Bharat Nagar ground in the Capital’s Ashok Vihar has for quite some time been a home for youngsters from humble background arriving in Delhi with the hope of becoming cricketers.Coach Sanjay Bharadwaj, who runs the show here courtesy the Delhi government’s education department, and has trained Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand, mentors many youngsters who live there, pursue some level of education, get a domicile certificate and go on to play cricket.

Some of them don’t even have kits as they come from the margins of the society.

Left-arm paceman Kulwant Khejroliya, who took a match-winning six-wicket

› I used to work as a waiter in Goa but I returned home. I had pace and wanted to play cricket. Then, I ran away from home. But I went to Delhi and began playing cricket. KULWANT KHEJROLIYA, Delhi pacer

haul, and along with seamer Navdeep Saini (seven wickets) bowled Delhi to a big Ranji Trophy semi-final win over Bengal, first knocked on Bharadwaj’s door a couple of years ago.

LOVE FOR CRICKET

“I used to work as a waiter in Goa but I returned home (in Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan). I had pace and wanted to play cricket. Then, I ran away from home. I told my folks I was going to Ahmedabad for a job. But I went to Delhi and began playing cricket. I borrowed some money from friends. I played tennis ball cricket in Japanese Park in Rohini and used to umpire at the weekends, both to make ends meet. Sanjay sir had adopted me. I managed a B.Com too,” he told Hindustan Times.

But soon fortune took a turn. “I was picked by Reliance for the (Mumbai) DY Patil tournament in January.”

He bowled well, was noticed and immediately picked by Mumbai Indians. The next day he was in the Delhi one-day squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

He has not looked back since.

Khejroliya picked a fifer last year in a one-dayer against Uttar Pradesh and got to play the Deodhar Trophy, where he impressed in high-scoring games. Soon, he was playing in the Board President’s XI against the visiting Australians.

On Tuesday, he scared the opposition batsmen by bowling quick and short and with Saini skittled out Bengal for 86 in the second innings. An India cap may not be imminent, but he surely should be the driving force for Delhi for years to come.