A RELIGIOUS person at heart, Surendra Dubey, father of Harsh, who made his India debut during the first One-Day International against Afghanistan at Dharamsala on Saturday evening, says (Ganpati) ‘Bappa’ has given the family a huge moment of happiness. Harsh became fifth Vidarbha cricketer after Prashant Vaidya, Umesh Yadav, Faiz Fazal and Jitesh Sharma to don India cap. “What can I say ... Bappa has given us such a huge moment of happiness. I can’t find the words to express it. The dream we had envisioned — the goal that my son had — today he has achieved it. He has fulfilled his father’s dream as well as that of all his coaches. “We were thinking that Harsh would make his India debut in the Test (one-off against Afghanistan where Rajasthan spinner Manav Suthar made debut) and even Harsh was probably hoping for the same.

 

As they say, whatever script God has written, neither you nor I can change it. It’s the script written by Bappa. I can’t say anything more than that, I am short of words,” said Senior Dubey controlling his emotions while talking to ‘The Hitavada’ after Harsh was named in the playing eleven. When asked whether Harsh is also religious by nature, the father said, “Ganpati Bappa Morya! We visit the Ganesh Tekdi temple every Wednesday for darshan with the family. Whenever Harsh is here, he joins us too. Whatever Harsh has achieved is all due to Bappa’s blessings.” Once the emotions sink in, the family will have some celebrations. “Right now, tears of joy are just flowing from our eyes. We are going to burst firecrackers and celebrate later,” said Dubey. Senior Dubey took this opportunity to thank all of Harsh’s coaches right from Dilip Das, Ranjit Paradkar, Usman Ghani to Madhav Bakre for their efforts. He also expressed his gratitude towards VCA’s Manohars, Prashant Vaidya, Justice (Retd) Vinay Deshpande and Sanjay Badkas for providing great platform not only to Harsh but to all Vidarbha players.

 

On his part, Harsh came out with a good show on debut. After two expensive overs, the bowler took three wickets in his remaining three overs to return with a reasonably good figures of (5-0-47-3) considering that the match has been reduced to a virtual T20 game. The Vidarbha all-rounder was in action as early as in the fifth over of the match. A mistimed pull by Rahmat Shah off Arshdeep Singh went towards square leg and Dubey completed a great catch running backwards. The left-arm orthodox bowler was introduced in the eighth over of the innings. Dubey almost had his maiden wicket on last ball of his first international over. He foxed Rahmanullah Gurbaz with a quicker ball just outside leg and Ishan Kishan whipped off the bails but the batter just managed to drag his foot inside. On last ball of his second over, Gurnoor Brar, another debutant, dropped Gurbaz at long-off. Dubey was recalled by Shubman Gill to bowl the 17th over and this time the bowler obliged.

 

He had Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi caught by KL Rahul at deep midwicket for his maiden international wicket. Gill was the first player to congratulate him on the field. In his fifth and final over, Harsh, who also plays for IPL side Sunrisers Hyderabad, took two wickets, signalling his arrival on the big stage. Harsh was handed over the India ODI cap by star India batter KL Rahul in a presentation ceremony ahead of the match. For the records, Prashant Vaidya was the first one from Vidarbha to play for India. Regarded as the fastest Indian bowler then, Vaidya played four One-Day Internationals for India in 1995 and 1996. Another pacer Umesh Yadav nicknamed ‘Vidarbha Express’ played all the formats for the country for a long, long time. Vidarbha’s double Ranji Trophy winning skipper Faiz Fazal played one ODI for the nation. Jitesh Sharma has represented India in 16 T20Is and is still in BCCI’s scheme of things in the shortest format.