There have been several stories from the field of cricket which have inspired us and one such tale is about Upendra Yadav, the right-handed wicket-keeper batsman who earlier played for Uttar Pradesh and is now part of the cricket team of Railways.
Upendra marked his entry into T20 cricket during the 2014 season when he represented Uttar Pradesh in a match against Railways in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. However, in this nine-year journey, the wicketkeeper-batsman has played only 30 matches. Out of these 30 matches, the 12 matches came in the last two seasons for the Railways.
Despite giving some best performances in T20 cricket, the batter struggled to secure a consistent spot in the state’s T20 squad. This absence did not go unnoticed by IPL franchises, who also took note of his absence from the team. However, coming to Railways proved to be a turning point for Upendra and he was picked in the IPL by the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
While talking to News18 in an exclusive interview, Upendra said, “I don’t know the thought process but the year I made the switch, I didn’t play T20 for Uttar Pradesh. I got calls from 2-3 IPL franchises checking whether I was injured and they asked why I wasn’t playing T20s for UP. I had no answer to that because I wasn’t named on the team. Then they (IPL teams) used to tell me that it’s very important to feature in domestic T20s to make the IPL cut. I was doing well for UP in four-day matches, in one-dayers. Even my last match for UP is the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy (2020-21).”
He further added, “Tough decision tha but le liya. UP main facilities and all better hai… kaafi socha tha fir le liya. Abhi tak sahi chal raha hai, I have been named in India A squad too. I did well in the two opportunities I got against New Zealand A and Bangladesh A. And then was picked by SRH in the IPL auction.”
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Upendra also stated that the former chief selector of team India, Chetan Sharma has told him about his chances of getting the call from the Men’s senior cricket team.
“When Chetan Sharma sir was the selector, he did tell me that you are very close. He told me that they (Indian selectors) are looking at me after Rishabh Pant and Kona Bharat. He told me that I am in the queue and advised me to keep working hard in the domestic circuit as a chance can come any time now,” says Upendra.