Aarya Desai : The Boy Who Made It To IPL

One can't help but brim with a little more admiration when someone among us sets on the ladder of success.

And hence, HFM was delighted to get into a candid conversation with Aarya Desai - the 20-year-old boy of Surat who was signed by the team Kolkata Knight Riders for IPL.

What was the feeling you experienced when you realized you were selected to play in the IPL?

So, there's a bit of a back story around this. I was called for trials by KKR. I was with them for a couple of days, three days to be precise. And then I practised with the team, and there I was on a trial basis. And then the third night they told me that they want to sign me and that it won't get official in the next two-three days, it will take some time. So, I can just inform my parents and my close friends. And I did. I still remember it so clearly, I didn't sleep that night because that feeling was so unmatched!

So did you always want to be a cricketer

My dad is a cricket coach. He is working with the NCA (National Cricket Academy). So ever since I was young, I always used to play cricket. But till I was 12 or 13 years old, it was more of a hobby. I was still passionate about it, but I was not serious about it. But after I turned 13, that was the time when me and my family got serious about pursuing cricket as a career.

So, do you have any interests apart from cricket?

So I am someone who can't think about cricket all day. I can't think about cricket 24x7. I like to spend my free time well. I travel a lot, so we have a busy schedule throughout the year. So whenever I get the chance, I spend time with my family and my close group of friends. If we are in a different city, we go out and explore, go to a nice restaurant, have dinner and do things like every normal individual of my age.

So we all know that as athletes you have a very specific diet. How do you maintain them with all the travelling?

We don't have a specific diet like we need to eat this at this time or that at that time. It's more like one should know what to eat and what not to eat. It’s majorly because we are travelling and we have matches at different times. If it's a 4-day match it starts at 9.30 in the morning. If it's a T20 it might start at 11 or in the evening at 4 or 5. Or if it's IPL it starts at 7.30. So we don't have a specific schedule or specific diet. We try to make the most out of whatever is available. But it's mostly healthy and pure food.

In all of this, how do you keep yourself mentally sane?

That's difficult because we have cricket throughout the year and not just international cricket but even domestic cricket, it goes on throughout the year and I am someone who likes to focus a lot on my mental aspect of the game. I am not very rigid that I need to practice this much or I don't need to practice, I am very flexible in that matter. If I feel I need a mental break, I will take a couple of days off, or if I feel I need to push more, I will push more. I am very spontaneous in that way and as I said earlier, I am someone who doesn't like to think about cricket 24x7. So when I am off the field, I try to completely switch off from cricket. Mostly when we are travelling, while we are in our rooms, we listen to music or watch a series. So I binge-watch a lot of series. Because you don't want to be under that pressure all the time.

However your journey has been, what were your major learnings?

My major learning would be to keep things simple. Because I am someone who had this phase where I used to complicate and overthink a lot of things, and a fellow cricketer told me “Just keep things simple” and that hit me. So now I try to keep things as simple as possible and not complicate it and just be here in the present.

Is your age a benefit or a bit of a drawback when you are performing among the seniors? What do you think?

I feel any young cricketer would love to get success early on, and just keep performing. As for me, my mindset is very clear even if am playing with seniors or juniors or just a friendly match, I try to take all the matches and practices very seriously. I won’t treat a club match or an IPL match or a Ranji match any differently, for me all these matches are the same.

Would you like to share something with the fans?

To be honest, it's just the start of my career, so I don’t have exactly anything to share. Though I am sure 5-6 years down the line, I will have something to share.

Team HFM wishes Aarya Desai all the success that he deserves and plenty of matches to win in his kitty.