VADODARA: Four years ago, life was thrown at Ashutosh Mahida by a bouncer. When the Covid pandemic took away his father’s livelihood, the young speedster had to help his father sell vegetables to keep the family afloat.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!But he never gave up on his dream of playing for India. On Monday, 18-year-old Mahida took to the field for the India A Under-19 team in Bengaluru. The triangular series is played between India A, India B and Afghanistan.
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“My father, Chirag Mahida, is a choreographer and was doing well until the pandemic. Work slowed down during the lockdown and he was forced to sell vegetables to earn his living. While I continued cricket, I also helped him sell vegetables,” Mahida told TOI.“It was a tough time but we didn’t give up. My father encouraged me to focus on cricket even during our troubles. Gradually our situation improved and now he has returned to his passion – choreography,” said Mahida, who plays for Motibaug Cricket Club. The right-arm pace bowler started playing cricket at the age of nine with his father feeding him.“He is very fond of cricket so he encouraged me to play and admitted me to the Hind Vijay Gymkhana. I took up fast bowling in the first few weeks and never looked back. I was soon selected for inter-club tournaments and later selected for the Baroda U-16 team in 2022,” said Mahida. He played the Vijay Merchant Trophy and in 2024 he played in the U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy where he took 16 wickets in five matches.Injuries have kept him out of action several times over the past two years, but he has returned. Earlier this month, Mahida played in the U-19 One Day Challenger Trophy in Hyderabad. “It’s my first international tournament but I’m not nervous. My aim is to help my team win,” he said.Motibaug Cricket Club coach Digvijay Rathwa, who coached Mahida, said, “I still remember his seven-over bowling spell against the Reliance team that changed the entire match in the HD Zaveri League last year. Mahida picked up four wickets in his spell and led the Motibaug team to victory. He is the type of bowler who likes long strokes and scares batsmen at heart rate.”The youth triangular series, which began at the BCCI Center of Excellence on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Monday, is being played in a two round robin format with each team having four matches scheduled. The top two teams will compete in the final on November 30. The tournament is seen as preparation for the ICC U-19 World Cup to be held in Zimbabwe and Namibia in January-February next year.
