Howrah finds a new icon , Shreevats Goswami

Sreevatsa Goswami

What Sourav Ganguly couldn’t do, Shreevats Goswami did with elan.

Impressing one and all with his gutsy cricket and some neat wicket-keeping, the colt from Kolkata laid his hands this evening on the coveted Under-19 World Cup that concluded in Malaysia today.

It was an irony of sorts for the city.

While Ganguly missed out on the senior Indian team’s victory in the first final over Australia in Sydney, young gun Shreevats was in the thick of action in the team that edged past South Africa in a thriller of a final at the Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur.

No sooner the U-19 boys won the Cup, wild celebrations broke out at the player’s neighbourhood in Liluah, where his father Pratyush Goswami runs a small business.

His father sounded elated.

“It’s a dream come true. I spoke to him was a day before the final. I had advised my son to stay cool, not get distracted and concentrate on the match. I was confident he will prevail. Full marks to the whole U-19 team,” gushed Pratyush Goswami, even as crowds went on with their revelry around him.

Although the southpaw stumper-batsman didn’t have a memorable showing in the title showdown — the opener scored just six runs — 19-year-old Shreevats has stood out as a mature, dependable wicket-keeper, who can chip in with handy knocks as opener.

He carved out two valuable half-centuries in the six matches in the just-concluded World Cup, both coming at crucial junctures.

Currently playing for Bhowanipur Club in the Maidan circuit, Shreevats owes a lot of his success to former national selector Ashok Malhotra, who coached him for years before the player eventually switched over from Customs Club to his current club earlier this season.