VADODARA: Four years ago, life bowled a bouncer at Ashutosh Mahida. When Covid pandemic took away his father’s livelihood, the young fast bowler had to help his father sell vegetables to keep the family afloat.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!But he never gave up on his dream of playing for India. On Monday, Mahida, 18, walked onto the field for the India A Under-19 team in Bengaluru. The triangular series is being played between India A, India B and Afghanistan.“My father, Chirag Mahida, is a choreographer and was doing well till the pandemic. During the lockdown, work slowed and he was forced to sell vegetables to make ends meet. While I continued my cricket, I also helped him sell veggies,” Mahida told TOI.“Those were challenging times, 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 is back to his passion — choreography,” Mahida, who plays for Motibaug Cricket Club, said.
The right-arm pace bowler began playing cricket at age nine with his father egging him on.“He is very fond of cricket so he encouraged me to play and admitted me to Hind Vijay Gymkhana. I took to fast bowling in the initial few weeks and never looked back. Soon I was picked for inter-club tournaments and was later selected for the Baroda U-16 squad in 2022,” Mahida said. He played the Vijay Merchant Trophy and in 2024 bowled in the U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy where he picked up 16 wickets in five matches.Injuries kept him out of action a couple of times over the last two years, but he bounced back. Earlier this month, Mahida played in the U-19 One Day Challenger Trophy at Hyderabad. “This is my first international tournament, but I am not nervous. My aim is to help my team win,” he said.Motibaug Cricket Club coach, Digvijay Rathwa, who trained Mahida, said, “I still remember his bowling spell of seven overs against the Reliance team that changed the entire game in the HD Zaveri League last year. Mahida bagged four wickets in his spell and led the Motibaug team to victory. He is the kind of bowler who likes to strike fear in the hearts of batsmen through pace. He will go a long way.”The youth triangular series, which began at the BCCI Centre of Excellence on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Monday, is being played in a double round-robin format, with each team scheduled to play four matches. The top two teams will feature in the final on Nov 30. The tournament is seen as a preparation for the ICC U-19 World Cup to be held in Zimbabwe and Namibia in Jan-Feb next year.
