When Kumar Kushagra broke Javed Miandad’s record at the Ranji Trophy pre-quarterfinals in Kolkata on Sunday, it was not just his father and coach Shashikant who was elated by it. If words could show emotions on their own, then the library of cricket books at his Jamshedpur house would also be as proud as him.
For it was not a coaching centre that instilled the cricketing lessons in a six-year-old Kumar, it was his father’s love for the game and determination in passing on the same to his son that had lent the foundation for his mammoth 266 runs against Nagaland in the domestic encounter. En route that score, the teenager bettered the record held by the Pakistan batting legend by becoming the youngest cricketer to score 250 runs in first-class cricket.
