Sanjay Yadav: "I don't want to just be a T20 player"
Dreams don't have to disappear the moment you wake up. As Walt Disney once said, "All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them".
When Sanjay Yadav's father moved from Uttar Pradesh to Tamil Nadu, he was just five. Adapting to new surroundings at an early age can be tough, especially when you don't know the language. It wasn't until he was in his teens that he went from playing tennis ball cricket to playing with the leather ball.
Even then, the dream of pursuing professional cricket seemed a long way away for the left-arm spinner. While his brother represented Tamil Nadu under various age group levels, he wasn't so lucky. But he persisted, with the support from his parents.
He was picked by the VB Thiruvallur Veerans ahead of TNPL 2016 and although he didn't take the tournament by storm, his talent was evident as an all-round threat. It was that talent coupled with his conviction that made him persevere, even as he was studying Statistics and playing second division cricket.
Then he applied for the IPL Auction in 2017 with a base price of Rs. 10 lakh and out of the 799 players that did, Sanjay Yadav was one of the 351 who were short-listed. Then came the moment that changed his life. Kolkata Knight Riders signed him Rs. 10 lakh and nothing would be the same again as the second division cricketer from Tamil Nadu got a chance to play in the IPL.
In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, Sanjay Yadav spoke about the confidence that the IPL experience has given him, how TNPL has helped him and what the future holds for the 23-year-old all-rounder.
"The two years of IPL experience gave me a lot of confidence," recounts the 23-year-old who takes a walk down memory lane from playing league cricket, featuring in the TNPL to being in the KKR squad, rubbing shoulders with Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Narine and Shakib Al Hasan, the latter two who he wanted to learn from.
"First, I didn't think about all of that. I just wanted to contribute to the team cause. I got a lot of confidence from playing in the TNPL, especially when it came to batting. I was always bowling but because I was batting well, I got to play in the middle-order where my power hitting came to the fore. That confidence was something I took to both league cricket and the IPL," he says.
VB Kanchi Veerans are out of the TNPL 2018 playoffs and he is quick to add that he hasn't quite been able to take his IPL experience and transform that into performance for his side.
"The (IPL) experience has been great but I feel that this season my contribution, both with the bat and ball weren't up to the mark," he quips.
Yet, he is also quick to add that his journey is from over. Initially seen as a left-arm spinner, Sanjay Yadav has now transformed himself into a legitimate all-round threat. He occupies a spot in the middle-order with the bat and is a front-line spinner who has also taken his fielding to another level since the start of the TNPL.
So was there any reason towards the shift from being a left-arm spinner into an all-rounder or was it a natural progression? The 23-year-old from Gorakhpur admits that he needed to evolve as a player if he needed to progress further.
"There are a lot of left-arm spinners in Tamil Nadu and I knew that if I had to make it to the side, I needed to not only bowl well but also contribute with the bat as well. I knew that if I work on my batting, I could get into the side as an all-rounder," he explains.
"So I spent a few years working on my batting, while at the same time improving my bowling as well as my fielding. That has paid dividends now."
"I don't want to just be a T20 player, I want to play all three formats"
While he has played 10 T20s and represented Tamil Nadu in the shortest format, he doesn't see himself as just a one-format player.
"So far I have done well in the shortest format but I hope that my performances this season can help me play in all three formats. I don't want to just be a T20 player, I want to play all three formats."
So what does the future hold for Sanjay Yadav? He is keen to not look forward. Although he wants to continue climbing up the ladder, he is keen on taking things as they come.
"My next focus on performing well in the league matches. If I perform well in the league, I will get opportunities in both Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali," he concludes.
Still only 23, Sanjay Yadav has already shown that dreams don't have to disappear the moment you wake up.
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