Khurasiya upset with missing teammates
Amay Khurasiya is no mourner. But he can be an AK47 to keep in tune with his initials when a sore point comes along.
Khurasiya, a former India one-day player, showed a lot of promise when picked for the Indian team in the Pepsi Series of 1999 and kicked off his one-day international career with a half century against Sri Lanka in Pune.
A few months later, he got picked for the 1999 World Cup but could not force his way into the playing eleven.
The swashbuckling left-handed batsman was picked for India even before the one-day series in 1999 — for the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998 under Ajay Jadeja.
He has no qualms in admitting that he could not “cash in on the few opportunities,” but mention KL and he’s got a story to tell.
Jaddu’s insistence
“I was terribly unwell but captain Jadeja cajoled me into playing the game. He promised me that he would not keep me in a fielding position where I would have to do a lot of running. But I ended up near the boundary line, which left me surprised and confused,” the 34-year-old Excise and Customs employee told MiD DAY.
With his body temperature reached 105, he was taken off the field in a stretcher — dehydrated, debilitated and destroyed.
He was discharged after overnight hospital care.
He shouldn’t have been on the park in the first place, he reckoned and his ire towards then physio/trainer Andrew Kokinos has not diminished with time.
Cramped: Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar attends to Khurasiya Pic: AFP
No hospital visit
“Amazingly, no one from the team even came to see me in hospital — no captain, coach not even the manager,” he revealed.
The year 1999 was one big depressing period.
“All I can say is that I was a middle-order batsman, who was asked if he could open. I agreed. I got only two games in my comeback and that was it.
I couldn’t do justice,” said Khurasiya. He last played for India in a triangular in Sri Lanka, 2001.
Transparency
He is near envious of the current set-up. “You can make out that there’s a lot more transparency now. Players should be reminded why they’ve been included in the team and when they get dropped, they should know why too. I asked and got no answers, which was the sad part of it all. Yet, I have no regrets.
“That I couldn’t be successful is part of life. I’m a firm believer in karma. You may miss Bus ‘A’ or Bus ‘B’ but you can get on to ‘C’ or ‘D.’ ”
Khurasiya is now a columnist for a Hindi newspaper and aims to extend his cricketing expertise to television work.
Life’s big screen is still high, wide and clear.
Amay in figures
One-day internationals
Matches: 12
Runs: 149
Highest: 57
Ave: 13.85
First-class cricket
Matches: 116
Runs: 7219
Highest: 238
Ave: 41.48
100s: 21
Amay Khurasiya is no mourner. But he can be an AK47 to keep in tune with his initials when a sore point comes along.
Khurasiya, a former India one-day player, showed a lot of promise when picked for the Indian team in the Pepsi Series of 1999 and kicked off his one-day international career with a half century against Sri Lanka in Pune.
A few months later, he got picked for the 1999 World Cup but could not force his way into the playing eleven.
The swashbuckling left-handed batsman was picked for India even before the one-day series in 1999 — for the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998 under Ajay Jadeja.
He has no qualms in admitting that he could not “cash in on the few opportunities,” but mention KL and he’s got a story to tell.
Jaddu’s insistence
“I was terribly unwell but captain Jadeja cajoled me into playing the game. He promised me that he would not keep me in a fielding position where I would have to do a lot of running. But I ended up near the boundary line, which left me surprised and confused,” the 34-year-old Excise and Customs employee told MiD DAY.
With his body temperature reached 105, he was taken off the field in a stretcher — dehydrated, debilitated and destroyed.
He was discharged after overnight hospital care.
He shouldn’t have been on the park in the first place, he reckoned and his ire towards then physio/trainer Andrew Kokinos has not diminished with time.
Cramped: Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar attends to Khurasiya Pic: AFP
No hospital visit
“Amazingly, no one from the team even came to see me in hospital — no captain, coach not even the manager,” he revealed.
The year 1999 was one big depressing period.
“All I can say is that I was a middle-order batsman, who was asked if he could open. I agreed. I got only two games in my comeback and that was it.
I couldn’t do justice,” said Khurasiya. He last played for India in a triangular in Sri Lanka, 2001.
Transparency
He is near envious of the current set-up. “You can make out that there’s a lot more transparency now. Players should be reminded why they’ve been included in the team and when they get dropped, they should know why too. I asked and got no answers, which was the sad part of it all. Yet, I have no regrets.
“That I couldn’t be successful is part of life. I’m a firm believer in karma. You may miss Bus ‘A’ or Bus ‘B’ but you can get on to ‘C’ or ‘D.’ ”
Khurasiya is now a columnist for a Hindi newspaper and aims to extend his cricketing expertise to television work.
Life’s big screen is still high, wide and clear.
Amay in figures
One-day internationals
Matches: 12
Runs: 149
Highest: 57
Ave: 13.85
First-class cricket
Matches: 116
Runs: 7219
Highest: 238
Ave: 41.48
100s: 21