Aditya keeps his promise of becoming top cricketer
   Date :08-May-2020

Aditya Thakare extreme ri
 Aditya Thakare (extreme right) with family members.
 
 
By Mahesh S Kale :
 
‘KEEP every promise you make and only make promises you can keep’ — the adage goes quite well with city’s quintessential pacer Aditya Thakare who, during his childhood had made a promise to his father that one day he will play extraordinary cricket and will also become number one cricketer for him. The lanky pacer, who has taken 31 wickets in First-Class cricket in a short span of time, not only lived up to the promise he had made to his father but also went beyond his expectations. He was also a part of the 2018 World Cup winning Under-19 Indian team.
 

Aditya in action a_1  
 Aditya in action at Wankhede Stadium during an Under-23 Col CK Nayudu Trophy.
 
Aditya, who from his salad days, used to watch IPL matches and play gully cricket, would have never imagined that some day he would be a part of Under-19 India World Cup team. Recollecting some old memories Shailesh Thakare, Aditya’s father said, “Aditya, from the age of five, used to watch IPL games and he knew the names of almost every player. Very soon he even started imitating IPL players while playing gully cricket. I think it was IPL that got him into cricket. Rather than wasting time in playing roadside cricket I wanted him to play his favourite sport professionally. Also, our neighbours and other people in the colony were against children playing cricket in gully. So, I enrolled him at the ACC (Akola Cricket Club) and that was the beginning of his professional cricketing journey.”
 
Aditya was academically bright but there was a time when managing both cricket and studies became quite difficult for him. “Aditya was preparing for his scholarship exam and apart from normal studies he had to put more effort and had to allot more time to studies. If that was not enough he also had his cricket practice in the evening so managing both became very tough,” said Shailesh, a professor at Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth. “I think it was somewhere around this time when I asked him to choose between cricket and studies. And today I am super happy and satisfied that he chose cricket over studies.
 
Initially, I was cynical because cricket is a very competitive game and only few are able to climb the ladder high,” added Shailesh. Aditya must have been in class eight when he decided that he wanted to pursue cricket. “Aditya was in class eight or so when he told me that he wanted to play cricket at the highest level. Aditya promised me to become a number one cricketer,” said Shailesh while talking to ‘The Hitavada’. Shailesh also mentioned about his wife Sangita who has worked extremely hard in building Aditya’s career. “It was Sangita who used to pick up and drop Aditya from the club. She was the one who used to travel with him during his tournaments. Sangita also used to help him in completing his homework and other school assignments.
 
Even today she makes sure that Aditya eats right kind of food and looks after his health,” said the proud husband. Aditya, who recently took 46 wickets in the Under-23 Col CK Nayudu 2019-20 season has made his father proud on several occasions but the favourite memory according to his father was when Aditya took first wicket in his debut Ranji match. “I was happy on many occasions but my favourite moment was when Aditya took his first wicket in the very first over of his debut Ranji Trophy game against Delhi. While my proudest moment was when Aditya donned the Blue T-shirt for India’s Under-19 team in 2017-18 for Asia Cup and World Cup that was held in New Zealand,” Shailesh said. “I think Aditya has fulfilled all his promises,” Shailesh concluded.