Paul Valthaty – journey from obscurity to national limelight 0
Paul Valthaty was an unknown name to the millions of cricket fans in India who follow the game very closely till a few days ago. He was included in the Kings XI Punjab team this year but many thought he got his chances in team as there were hardly any established stars in the Punjab team. His overall statistics were also not impressive without even a single first class match, only one List A match and a few T20 matches including a few appearances for Rajasthan Royals in the previous IPL seasons where he hardly scored anything noticeable. So, when Kings XI Punjab faced the defending champions of IPL Chennai Super Kings on April 13, 2011 hardly anybody had any expectations from either Kings XI Punjab or Paul Valthaty and it was expected to be an easy win for CSK. Put to bat first by Gilchrist, Chennai set the Kings XI Punjab a mammoth target of 189 runs to win from 20 overs. But then rose Paul Valthaty who single-handedly took the game away from Chennai as he scored a blazing 120 runs in merely 63 balls. His shots were not just slogs but pure cricketing shots as he became only the fifth Indian to score a century in the IPL. But there were still many who doubted that it might have been just an one-off lucky day for the 27 year old unknown entity who had just rose to national prominence. But a few cricket fans with open ears heard him say in the post match presentation that he got hurt during the 2002 U-19 world cup and his career went for a downhill since then and he was still trying to recover from it. Just three days later on April 16, Kings XI Punjab faced another team Deccan Chargers who had some of the fastest bowlers in the tournament in Dale Steyn and the reinvigorated Ishant Sharma. There was another surprise in stock as Kings XI captain Adam Gilchrist suddenly trusted him with the ball though he had hardly bowled in IPL previously. And he once again rose to the occasion and proved to the bowler with a magic arm as he scalped 4 Chargers wickets for 29 runs as he bowled his full quota of 4 overs. But then that was not what most people were waiting for … can he perform the magic again with the bat ??? But he did not disappoint at all as he scored another blazing innings of 75 runs in just 47 balls as he took the team to victory again and this time with an all round performance to receive his second consecutive Man of the Match award. He has become a household name in all the cricket crazy families of India and proved himself twice at T20 level. But he has got a good footwork and almost all shots in his book to become a successful player though time would tell if he can become one.
Let us now diagnose as to how he emerged suddenly at this level and that at an age of 27 years and why did he not play Indian domestic cricket for all these years. According to former Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar recollected the day when as an 11-year-old, Paul Valthaty entered his academy calling himself a medium pacer. The boy thought he had settled in well and a stint at the Vengsarkar Academy was just about the right beginning. “It was after five days that I realized that it was not his bowling that was impressive, but his talent with the willow,” said Vengsarkar. Valthaty was stocky, compact and showed a lot of promise. The cricketing great was heading the BCCI’s Talent Research Development Wing (TRDW), and he certainly had an exceptional eye for talent, especially at the junior level. “He showed a lot of confidence in my batting and it sure lifted my spirits,” Valthaty recalled. Then Valthaty was spotted through his big-scoring exploits for Don Bosco School in both the Giles and Harris Shield, and subsequently, he went on to represent Podar College in Central Mumbai, where he was a B.Com student. Cricket, then took over and impressive show in the Vijay Merchant Trophy (national U-16s) for two consecutive seasons, with a follow up in the Cooch Behar Trophy (national U-19s) for Mumbai. So, it was not a surprise that the talented teenager was selected to represent India at the 2002 Under-19 World Cup with the likes of Irfan Pathan and Parthiv Patel. But misfortune struck soon as fate had something else in store for the young lad. On a tour to New Zealand, while opening the batting for India in a game against Bangladesh U-19s, Valthaty was batting on 5, when he was hit on the face (right eye to be precise) by a bouncer from pacer Shafaq Al Zabir and subsequently taken to the hospital and that’s when his progress was halted, and delayed. For the next year or two, his vision was a little disturbed and it was after that injury that Valthaty reportedly lost momentum. Thus, Valthaty’s much cherished dream of pursuing the game suffered a rude shock. He played one one-dayer for Mumbai, but failed to make the cut for West Zone. He was also picked up by Rajasthan Royals but could not catch the eyes of the Royals team management in the few chances he got. So, as he mentioned in the post match interview after his century it was a dream come true for him and a dream of making it to the national limelight through his game came true after a long wait of 15 years.
However, in Mumbai circles, Valthaty is said to be a T20 legend, known from his early days for his ability to thump the ball as hard as anyone else, so much so that he’s made the format his own, both in the club and domestic circles for Mumbai. Abhishek Nayar, his close friend and team-mate from Mumbai and Kings XI Punjab told Yahoo! Cricket, “Paul is pretty much a T20 specialist in Mumbai, and his track record in the past two-three years in almost every tournament in that format tells you that he’s done extremely well. Even in the Mumbai Cricket Association T20 Championship in 2009/10 (where Valthaty represented Payyade Sports Club), he was adjudged the player of the tournament.” Nayar added, “It was really heartening to see him do well, given the fact that he’s seen almost all his peers make it big for Mumbai in all formats.” And even as Valthaty was the quintessential journeyman in the IPL circuit if you like, having previously represented the Mumbai and Rajasthan franchises respectively, it was on Nayar’s recommendation that the Kings XI Punjab decided to rope in Valthaty. “After I got picked by Kings XI Punjab, I had a talk with the franchise about giving Paul an opportunity to play for them, and since the past two months, he’s been training really hard and the result is here to see. I am very happy for what he achieved today,” Nayar said.
Many would also argue that Valthaty might have been a Mumbai cricketer born at a wrong time, given that he’s unlikely to break into the first Ranji XI anytime soon — given the strength and class of that batting order, and a faint recognition that First Class cricket might never quite be his cup of tea. But nonetheless he has achieved which very few cricketers have achieved within the span of a few days and hope that he can continue his great and prove himself in all formats of cricket very soon. We wish him luck and hope he climbs the ladder of success very fast.
CREDIT:
This article has been created by collecting information from various sources including
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http://blogs.cricket.yahoo.com/posts/2011/04/the-fall-rise-of-paul-valthaty/