Indore, Jan 13: It's indeed difficult to face life at times as a professional cricketer. Mainly, when nothing goes as per your plan.
Despite immense potentials, years-long hard work, discipline and lot of self belief, a player may not always get the results, may not achieve what he or she is capable of.
Yes, failures, injuries and frustrations are part of a sportsman's career. Many do lose hearts, fail to bounce back. But not everyone.
Let's take the case of a talented and low-profile Odisha men's team prolific batter, who on Saturday perhaps silenced his critics with a superb batting performance.
More importantly, he rescued Odisha from a tricky 38/4 at one time to 493/8 at stumps on Day 2 of the Elite Group-D Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh. More importantly, he is still unbeaten on 277.
Yes, we are indeed focussing on former Odisha skipper Subhranshu Senapati, who was on Saturday quite busy doing what he does best, bat and bat with all sincerity.
Senapati was not out on 277, with Harshit Rathod (60*) giving him good company in a much needed recovery cause at Emerald High School Ground in Indore, when umpires decided to call of play for Day 2.
Senapati and Rathod also created history for their record breaking unbeaten 9th wicket partnership of 234 runs in 372 balls for Odisha.
Odisha, after losing their first Ranji match this season to Baroda by 147 runs, went with a few changes against Madhya Pradesh.
But put into bat, Odisha had a few quick jolts. However, Senapati did well to stand tall amidst fall of wickets and bat with patience and punishing the bad balls.
He was supported by come-back wicket-keeper Rajesh Dhuper (51), Prayash Singh (27), Suryakant Pradhan (26) and Rathod (60 not out).
It all depends, how Odisha bat on Day-3 in the first session. If MP bowlers fail to make early inroads and Senapati continues and go past a 300 plus score, definitely Odisha would look for having a firm grip in the match.
As far as Senapati is concerned, this knock is bound to encourage him to bounce back with more determination in coming days.
In the last couple of years, he has faced mixed fortunes. He was part of the Chennai Super Kings for a couple of years in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Unfortunately, did not get much opportunity to play. Finally, he was released by the CSK management this year. He was also Odisha state team skipper. But he was replaced.
Now, that he has regained his old touch, do we expect regular repetitions of such batting performances?
May be, time will answer that. But those who know him, they argue that he is quite capable of even making his entry into the national side. If that happens, may be Odisha's long wait for its next Team India player will finally end.
O course, that is bit over expectation at this juncture. Hopefully, not only Senapati, but other talented men and women cricketers will come good this season. May be, Odisha will also improve their record in the domestic matches in 2024.
