NEW DELHI: Tejasvi Singh Dahiya was shattered after his name came up twice at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction last year, only to find no bidders.
A disappointed Dahiya then received a call from his coach Sanjay Bharadwaj — a hard taskmaster and one of the doyens of the domestic circuit, who has coached the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Amit Mishra, Joginder Sharma, Unmukt Chand, Nitish Rana and Priyansh Arya. Bharadwaj asked him to book a train ticket to Bhopal, where the Dronacharya Awardee runs a ‘gurukul’-style coaching setup in the middle of a forest.
“I was unhappy after going unsold. When my name came up in the accelerated round, I was hopeful. But when no one lifted the paddle for me, I was shattered from inside,” Dahiya tells TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Moving to Bhopal, where he had lived in the recent past, was not easy.
“Bharadwaj sir even takes away our phones. There is only one hour of entertainment, during which we get our mobiles to talk to our parents,” he says.
The 23-year-old turns philosophical and adds, “If you want to achieve something, you have to sacrifice a lot. This is what I believe in.”
Dahiya, who shot to fame with his exploits in the Delhi Premier League (DPL), was sold to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs3 crore — ten times his base price of Rs30 lakh. Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals (RR) were involved in a bidding battle for the Delhi wicketkeeper-batter.
Tejasvi Dahiya celebrates after scoring winning runs in the DPL
“What Gauti (Gautam Gambhir) bhai did with KKR, I want to repeat that,” says Dahiya.
Dahiya was the leading six-hitter in the DPL, smashing 29 sixes and amassing 339 runs at a strike rate of 190.44.
“He has that attacking mindset. He has always been like this. He and Priyansh (Arya) used to get into six-hitting competitions at the LB Shastri Academy,” says Bharadwaj.
“When I saw him bat for the first time, I imagined the entire picture.
Mujhe lag gaya ki ek heera haath aa gaya hai (I realised I had found a diamond). At 16, I made him the captain of LB Shastri. He has a mature head on his shoulders. Since he keeps wickets as well, he understands and reads the game really well,” adds the coach.
But the journey wasn’t easy for Dahiya. He comes from a family of teachers. His father, Ravindra Singh Dahiya, is a maths teacher, while his mother, Babita Dahiya, is an economics teacher in a Delhi government school.
“
Na unko yakeen ho raha hai, na main digest kar pa raha hoon (Neither my parents nor I can believe it),” says Dahiya.
Tejasvi Dahiya plays for South Delhi Superstarz in the Delhi Premier Legaue
“Barring Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants, I went for trials with all the other teams. But I wasn’t sure because of what happened last year,” he adds.
Growing up, Dahiya looked up to Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.
“I loved the attacking intent of Viru sir, the six-hitting and keeping of MS, and the discipline of Virat bhai,” he says.
Dahiya says he is eager to play in the IPL and show the world what he can do.
“
Hum toh Delhi se hain aur hum jaan laga ke khelte hain (I am from Delhi, and we play with full intensity),” says Dahiya.
Meanwhile, coach Bharadwaj says he is excited for his ward but cautions him against reckless shot-making early on.
Tejasvi Dahiya
“Kids these days go for a first-ball six — there’s a bravado I don’t like. I think he can have a good season and might end up playing all the matches, but he needs to make it count,” says Bharadwaj.