Abhishek Tripathi, New Delhi. Mumbai Indians’ young spin all-rounder Hrithik Shokeen, who plays domestic cricket from Delhi, had a passion for playing cricket since childhood. Such was his love for cricket that he was always ready to play despite his injury and would accompany his father to practice four days a day.

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Rakesh said, “Right now he is in Mumbai but when he stays here, we both leave for practice at 4 in the morning. The reason for this is that we get a little darkness which we use to practice Tippe. I turn on the mobile light and Hrithik hits Tippa (balling) in that light. He practices keeping the ball in the same tip.

Hrithik’s father Rakesh Shokeen, 21, is a teacher in a school in Delhi’s Dhulsiras village

21-year-old Hrithik’s father Rakesh Shokeen is a teacher in a school in Delhi’s Dhulsiras village. Talking to Dainik Jagran, he said, ‘Hrithik has been full of energy and a bit of a devil from the beginning. He never sat on his seat in school. The teacher said that its energy should be used in sports, due to which I got it inserted in cricket. We live near Najafgarh, so we all are fans of Virender Sehwag. It was small, so during the Under-10 matches, the umpire used to say that it is so small, even to give LBW, it has to be thought that if the ball hits, then give LBW. There was such a passion in Hrithik that he stopped going to any events like weddings, birthdays.

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It is known that Hrithik may have taken two wickets with 48 runs in four matches for Mumbai Indians today, but he got a place in the home team in Delhi after a lot of hard work. Got a place in the team in Under-14 but did not get to play the match. He once scored an unbeaten 263 off 62 balls in a club match. Due to this, he was selected in the Under-16 team of Delhi but did not play the match. Got a chance in Under-19 too. Although he played for the Indian Under-19 team. He was the man of the series against South Africa.

Rahul Dravid feeds in Under-23 against Bangladesh in Lucknow

Rahul Dravid, then coach of the junior team at that time. Played in the Under-23 against Bangladesh in Lucknow, in which he became the best bowler. However, the Delhi selectors did not show any interest in pursuing Shokeen. At that time there were trials going on for Syed Mushtaq and Vijay Hazare, in which Shokeen took eight wickets in Syed Mushtaq‘s trial match. And five wickets in Vijay Hazare’s trial but still he was not selected.