Shaik Rasheed who made his IPL debut on Monday, moved to Guntur from Hyderabad and steadily making a mark
HYDERABAD: Shaik Rasheed became another Telugu-speaking cricketer to make his debut in IPL when he opened the batting with New Zealander Rachin Ravindra for the Chennai Super Kings in Lucknow on Monday night.
And, the 20-year-old Andhra cricketer made a pretty fluent start (27, 19b, 6×4) before pacer Avesh Khan got rid of him, but not before Rasheed made another big step closer to realising his ultimate dream of playing at the highest level.
Interestingly, Rasheed started playing gully cricket in Dilsukhnagar (Hyderabad) when he was just eight and even played for Sportive Cricket Club in the HCA League. And his passion for the game took him to the next level when he moved over to Guntur with his family.
Rasheed thrived over the last three years on the simple advice of cricketing great VVS Laxman during the 2022 ICC Under-19 World Cup in the West Indies – hold a cricket bat, close your eyes, keep visualising the bowlers whom you are likely to face on the cricket field and do shadow practice.
More importantly, Rasheed made an emphatic statement about his arrival in Indian domestic cricket with his maiden Ranji century (203) against Hyderabad in November 2024 at Uppal.
Despite the financial hardship, the young talent had been backed by his father who felt cricket could be the way out for his family.
With J Krishna Rao at Mangalagiri ACA Residential Academy backing him, Rasheed had the liberty to train hard to keep moving up the ladder.
Rasheed always focused more on mental preparations and adapted quickly to the given conditions than worrying too much about the technique. A reason why he was so composed and confident when he walked out with Ravindra on his IPL debut.
He is one of those cricketers who rarely think about individual records and never regretted missing a century (94) in the Under-19 World Cup semifinal. “Team’s interests is my first priority,” he often said.
Mentored by India wicketkeeper and Andhra teammate KS Bharat and guided by MSK Prasad, former India stumper and ex-BCCI senior selection panel chairman who even sent him to the UK for a two-month coaching stint when he was just 12 years of age, Rasheed was fortunate to get the right inputs at the right time.
