Far from polls, Pappu Yadav’s son fights own battle — on a cricket pitch
19-year-old Sarthak Ranjan.
On a day when RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s two sons, Tej Pratap and Tejaswi, were engaged in a battle of ballots in the third phase of the Bihar assembly elections, another political scion was fighting on a different pitch.
Sarthak Ranjan, the 19-year-old son of Jan Adhikar Party leader and Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav and Congress MP (Supaul) Ranjeet Ranjan, is part of the elite batch of youngsters who have assembled in Pune for the Under-19 Challengers Trophy — a selection tournament to help pick India’s Under-19 squad for the World Cup to be held in Bangladesh next year.
The Bihar poll battle is far from his mind. He just wants to catch the eye of India legend Rahul Dravid, who is screening the youngsters in Pune. “My main focus is to do well, learn a lot from Rahul sir. Many people don’t know which family I belong to, and I don’t want them to know. Aaj nahi toh kal sabko pata chal hi jata hai (everyone will come to know eventually). I keep myself grounded and just try to keep my focus on cricket,” Sarthak tells The Indian Express.
An aggressive opener, Sarthak is known to score at a fast clip and twice scored 96 in 106 balls during the zonal games preceding the Challenger meet. “I scored 265 runs in four zonal games and twice I was out for 96. I am happy with the way I am batting and hope to represent the country in the under-19s. I have always been a cricketer and have been playing since I was nine years old. I represented Delhi in various age groups and am just hoping to represent my country. That is the main goal,” he says.
Former India Test player Nikhil Chopra, who first picked Sarthak in the Delhi Under-19 team two years ago, says: “He was chubby when I first saw him. I asked him to lose weight. This year, he has turned into a muscular boy. I was impressed by his hunger. I will be surprised if he isn’t picked by an IPL team in the coming years. He is a clean hitter.”
Sarthak can lay claim to some sporting genes — his mother was a well-known tennis player on the Bihar circuit. “I speak to my mother daily and she helps me a lot. She was also a sportsperson so she understands what a player has to go through. I get angry easily, especially when I am not scoring runs. She tells me to be patient and everything will fall in place,” he says.
“At home, we just don’t discuss politics. At the dinner table we talk about cricket stuff,” he says.
Asked whether he is keeping track of the Bihar elections, where the Jan Adhikar Party is contesting 116 seats as part of the Socialist Secular Morcha, Sarthak says: “I really don’t know what is happening there. My father is busy and he does all the work. The election thing has certainly not entered my house. My parents have ensured that we remain away from this talk of politics.”
— With inputs from Sahil Malhotra
