"If I've learnt from anywhere the most, it's been through watching TV. If Mitchell Starc was bowling a yorker, then I also wanted to bowl a yorker like him" - Tyagi ©BCCI
Usually, markets shut and people head home by 7 PM in Dhanaura, a village in north India. There was a change of routine on Tuesday though, as around a hundred of them rushed to join Yogendra Tyagi in watching his son make his IPL debut. Unfortunately, with the sweet shops already closed for the day, they had to land up empty-handed to celebrate the first high-profile sighting of the "cricketer of Dhanaura".
It was also coincidentally Kartik Tyagi's first-ever T20 game. From the time he started playing, his father had always prepared him to imagine a crowd and feel their pressure. Here he was, playing in front of an empty stadium in the UAE, but well aware that he was being watched by millions back home, not to forget the crowd that had begun to build in front of the TV at his own home. Even before they could settle though, he was unsettling international cricketers with his pace and zip. Off only his second delivery, he had Rohit Sharma almost chopping the ball on to his stumps. Three balls later, he had Quinton de Kock top-edging a pull and falling victim to his pace. The non-existent cheers and applause of the stadium were being replicated at his home.
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