Shootball is a famous sport in Hapur district. It is almost similar to Volleyball but has a few changes in rules. Yogendra Tyagi was a champion in that sport when he was young. He had 100s of medals, none of them on the wall, but in a safe place that he only had access. He made sure to keep medals away from his father because he wasn’t into sports.
According to his father, who was a farmer, sports was a waste of time. He wanted his son to work hard on the land, harvest, earn. Every time he found out about Yogendra’s medal or the fact that he went for a match again, he would trash him. Yogendra wanted to do well in the game and even turned one of their lands to practice ground with the net. Unfortunately, he couldn’t win his father’s heart, and he ended up working hard on the field along with his father.
Years later, that net still stands with rust, and there is another poll which looks comparatively fresh. It completes the cricket nets. The nets which Kartik would go on to practice day and night.
Yogendra made sure that his son followed his dreams to become a cricketer. He made sure to keep his son away from the land. However, Kartik would help his father by carrying sack full of crops and other weights. It kept him fit and made him stronger.
Kartik was 10 years old when he began to play the game. He wanted to be a pacer. Fast. Real Fast. He practised in the home-nets. No matter what was the climate, Kartik would keep practising at least 100 balls in a session. In a way, that made him mentally stronger.
After seeing his hard work, Yogendra decided to take him to coaching classes. One day, he saw a newspaper advertisement about a coaching centre in Chandigarh and took Kartik there. He was able to point out differences immediately and was shocked. The other kids looked more disciplined and were well-moulded. Whereas, Kartik was completely raw. Though he was a natural, he wasn’t as good as the other kids. Kartik, as expected, flunked in the test.
Yogendra’s hunt for coaching centre began seriously. He finally got in touch with the coach Vipin Vats in Meerut, the man who honed the skills of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Praveen Kumar. Yogendra and Kartik met Vipin who was impressed by the Kartik’s physique and action. Since Kartik learnt it all by himself, he needed guidance and game awareness. Vipin taught the young boy about the timing of the delivery- when to use them.
Kartik did not study after ninth standard because of his results and since his interest was elsewhere. The family didn’t want to force the kid to study as his focus was somewhere else. Yogendra decided to make him a full-time cricketer.
Of course, everyone was against it. The villagers were against it. They all had their say. Even they destroyed the cricket nets at their place, demotivated him by telling that it was impossible, but nothing could stop the Tyagis.
The coaching centre was almost 70kms from their place. In the morning, Yogendra would begin his journey with Kartik. They would take two buses and a rickshaw to reach the place. Yogendra would go back and would continue working on the farm. In the evening, they would catch the direct train.
Kartik would practice from 6 am to 8 pm during the weekdays, and in the weekends, he had assignments from his coach which he would work on weekends at the home-nets. He was a big fan of Brett Lee, and probably that would explain his run-up.
Kartik soon had under-14 call-up and then under-16. During his under-16 season, Praveen Kumar saw him and was very impressed by his performance. He suggested Kartik’s name to Suresh Raina who was the captain of Uttar Pradesh at that time.
On this same day, 6th October 2017, Kartik made his Ranji Trophy debut. When everything was going right, he got injured before his second match during warm-ups while playing football. He fractured his leg and later injured his pelvic bone. The series of injuries continued, and he didn’t have a proper doctor to approach to at that time. Almost 11 months passed, and he couldn’t recover completely. Since the treatments were expensive, his father had to sell the land was running out of money.
He took the matter to the state cricket board, and a well-wisher made sure that he got proper treatment at the NCA. Months later, he became a regular in the Under-19 team.
For the past three years, Kartik has been putting his name in the IPL auction. After continuous rejections, he decided to watch the auction alone this time. To his surprise, things were different. He had a bidding war. He went from Rs 20 Lakhs to 1.3 Crores.
The villagers came to know about it, and they partied all night. However, Yogendra, who was obviously proud of his son, wanted him to achieve more rather than enjoying at that time.
The same thing happened during the Under-19 World Cup. When Kartik’s bowling video-his bowling against Australia and Pakistan- took over social media, Yogendra advised his son not to take that success seriously because he had a lot to achieve and told his son not to take success or failure to his head. Kartik learnt to shut things off based on his father’s advice.
During this lockdown, Kartik was back to his initial days where he used his home-nets to practice. He lifted sacks of crops and other weights just like his initial days to keep himself fit. Right now, he is very keen to learn from Jofra Archer.
