Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: The importance of being earnest will always trump the art of seeming earnest. In that sense, the 21-year-old paceman from Maharashtra cuts a clean image - as with his style so with his diction.
He is a first-class cricketer, and the Chennai Super Kings have invested in his future.
“I know that I have to give it my everything, every day,” Rajvardhan Hangargekar tells DH. “My job is to enjoy the process and know that this level (first-class and List A) is where the real grind is. If you can remain relevant here with your performances, you can look at a future.
"But for that, you need to put in the work. No days off!” he announces, giving voice to a typical gym mantra.
As it stands, the 2022 Under-19 World Cup winner has made it further than most in India dream by debuting for the first team a couple of seasons ago, and with 13 wickets from four games so far, he looks like he could stick around for a while.
There are some hiccups to his story: age-fraud claims against him, losing his father to Covid-19, injuries and so on, but here he was, at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, as part of Maharashtra’s Dr (Capt) K Thimmappiah Memorial tournament campaign, being grateful with unwavering eyes and an unfiltered (seemingly) smile.
“…. my attitude is to put the things of the past behind me and work towards a future,” he says. “That’s what got me this far, and I know I have a lot to learn. My under-19 experience taught me how cricketers from other parts of the world work, but the biggest learning was with CSK. I learnt so much from the staff there. I am using all that to become the best version of myself at the first-class level.”
It’s odd to hear him harp on about red-ball cricket because few cricketers his age do, but you sense that his insistence comes from his fitness. While Hangargekar may be found out in the shortest format for he is still a work in progress, his fitness and fairly repeatable action, hold him in good stead in red-ball cricket.
“I have focused on my fitness since before Covid, and I can now comfortably out-bowl people because I have spent so much time on it,” he says as his bulky frame leans forward. “I know that if I continue to do the basics, I have what it takes to make it to the highest level. I know it won’t be hard breaking into the Indian team at a time when there are so many fast bowlers around, but I bring a lot to the table and I think I can get there.”
Sure, it’s not out of the realm of possibility, but there’s more to making the Indian team than seeming or even being earnest.