For all Indian cricket lovers, one name would be under a perpetual scanner during this year’s Indian Premier League – Yash Vijay Dhull. The 19-year-old cricketer from Delhi has announced his entry into senior cricket with a big bang.
Having led the India Under-19 team to a World Cup victory, Yash made his Ranji Trophy debut for Delhi on 17 February 2022 against Tamil Nadu at Guwahati and scored 113 runs in the very first innings. What was more remarkable about the innings was that he came to the crease with Delhi having lost two wickets with the total at just seven runs. Yash played a matured innings which was quite in keeping with the maturity of an experienced cricketer. He came back in the second innings as an opening batsman to score yet another century in the second innings, 113 not out to be precise. Consequently, he became only the third player in the history of the Ranji Trophy to score a century in each innings on debut. In the process, he also had an unbroken partnership of 228 runs with Dhruv Shorey who remained unbeaten on 107.
Yash joined a select band which has only Nari Jamshedji Contractor of Gujarat and Virag Sripad Awate of Maharashtra on the list. Nari Contractor had scores of 152 and 102 in 1952-53 while Virag Awate had scored 126 and 11, in 2012-13. However, cricket is a great leveller, as they say. In the next Ranji match, Yash could muster just 24 runs in two completed innings but Yash Dhull being Yash Dhull came back into his own in the second innings of his third Ranji match. He scored a modest 29 runs in the first innings but in the second he scored an unbeaten double hundred to save the Delhi team from defeat.
So at the time of this article going to press, in four completed Ranji Trophy innings Yash has scored 479 as an average of 119.75. What more can one expect from a 19-year old? In 2021, Yash led the Under-19 Indian team to a title victory in the Asia Cricket Championship and again this year in the World Cricket Championship, played in the West Indies. Consequently, when the International Cricket Council announced its Under-19 team, it named Yash as its skipper.
In the West Indies, the Under-19 Indian team suffered a severe drawback when five of the team members tested positive for Covid. The five included the team’s captain and vice-captain. Despite this, the Indian boys made it to the semi-final without losing a single match. When Yash joined the team, he celebrated it with a century against Australia and then the final title victory against England. In the World Cup Yash scored a total of 229 runs at an average of 76.33 per innings. Apart from exhibiting his batting talent, Yash exhibited the coolness of a Dhoni in leading the team. It only augurs well for the future of Indian cricket.
In eight Under-19 ODIS in which Yash has played, he has scored a total of 281 runs with a century and a half century to maintain a healthy average of 46.83. With such credentials, Yash Dhull’s purchase in the 2022 version of the Indian Premier League was a foregone conclusion and Delhi Capitals was quick to include Yash in its team at a purchase price of Rs 50 lakh.
Yash was born to Neelam and Vijay Dhull on 11 November 2002 in New Delhi. He had his schooling in Bal Bhawan Public School and started playing cricket from the age of six. He was coached at the Bal Bhawan Cricket Academy by Pradeep Koachar.
Yash has a remarkable patience for his age. While Delhi coach, Raj Kumar Sharma, feels that Yash should get a quick inclusion in the Indian senior team, Yash, himself, is of the opinion that he would be playing in the Indian senior team in another 18 to 24 months with a lot of runs scored behind him to put forth his claim.
Nari Contractor’s career had a sad end when a ball from West Indian fast bowler, Charlie Griffith, hit him on the head. Contractor averaged just about 32 runs in Test matches and less than 40 in First Class matches. Virag Awate made his Ranji debut at the ripe age of 31 years and his career ended after playing just seven First Class matches, scoring at an average of just above 32. However, Yash makes his First Class entry under totally different conditions. He will have a helmet to protect his head and he starts at the young age of just 19.
Playing in the IPL, Yash will have another advantage over Contractor and Awate. He would be facing quality international bowlers that would help him fine tune his batting. It is only a matter of time before Yash Dhull would be playing alongside the likes of Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant, but in him also lies the potential to lead the Indian senior team someday.
Picture Credit : Google
