IPL Auction 2024: Sameer Rizvi's Rs 8.40 crore windfall brings smile on ailing father's face
Bengaluru, Dec 19: Sameer Rizvi and his uncle Tankeeb Akhtar were choked with emotions as Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals engaged in an intense bidding war for the 20-year-old Uttar Pradesh batter in the IPL auction on Tuesday.
The paddle final settled at a whopping Rs 8.40 crore with Rizvi going to the CSK's Anbu (Love) Den.' For IPL 2024.
The roseate moment came after massive struggles for the Rizvi household as his father Haseen has not been able to work owing to poor health. Now the physically fragile yet proud dad can afford to smile. After all, the son will be able to afford best medical treatment for his father.
"We were expecting Sameer to get picked by some team in the auction. But we never expected for this big money or CSK to bid for him," Akhtar told PTI from Meerut.
"Sameer has a lot of ambitions - buying a good house, proper treatment of his father and a lot of things like that."
"Sameer is quite thrilled that he can finally have a meeting with (MS) Dhoni bhai from close quarters and share space with him," a delighted Akhtar said.
Rizvi too shared his excitement about the chance to play for the Super Kings but admitted that he was nervous when his name came up in the auction.
"I noticed that 4-5 players before me went unsold. I was nervous at that time. But he (Dhoni) has always been my idol. I am very excited, yet nervous about the prospect of meeting him. I have never seen him in front of my eyes," Rizvi told the Jio Cinema.
So, what has prompted the CSK and other teams to go on a bidding war for this Uttar Pradesh lad.
Rizvi caught the eyes of IPL talent scouts for the first time during the UP T20 League while playing for Kanpur Super Stars.
He hammered 455 runs from nine matches including the fastest hundred in the tournament off 47 balls.
Rizvi carried that form into the state Under-23 tournament where he smashed 454 runs from seven matches.
But more than those runs, it was Rizvi's ability to clear the ropes by miles that fascinated the scouts. The young batter smoked 72 sixes across 16 matches in those tournaments.
"It is his natural game. He has been a big-hitter from a young age. He has interacted and played with seasoned players like Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh (in UP T20 League) and they have also told him to play his natural game. It helped him a lot," said Akhtar.
Rizvi was sceptical of getting an IPL contract once he missed trials with a few teams because of his state commitments.
"I told him don't worry and the opportunity will come to you. You keep performing on the field. SG (Sanspareils Greenlands, the cricket gear manufacturer) helped him a lot through sponsorship of equipments."
The uncle doesn't want his nephew to just make waves donning 'Canary Yellow' but realise his ultimate goal of wearing the 'India Blue'.
"Now, we are happy that our efforts have borne fruits, and finally it (IPL contract) has come his way. There are tears in the eyes of everyone at home. Hopefully, he will go and play for India one day," said Akhtar, who is also his childhood coach at the Gandhi Bagh Cricket Academy.
MEERUT ➡️ MADRAS! 🥳
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) December 19, 2023
Welcome home, Sameer! 🦁 pic.twitter.com/kwbPyglLPe
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Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
