MD Nidheesh was 17 years old when he started his cricketing journey in Chempu village in Kerala’s Kottayam district. Coming from a family of fishermen – his father would catch fish and mother sold them in the market – for the longest time, Nidheesh had no idea about how to pursue cricket as a career.
While he would play football in the neighbourhood, Nidheesh slowly fell in love with cricket by watching S. Sreesanth playing for India. Impressed with Sreesanth’s performance in the semifinal of the 2007 World T20 against Australia, Nidheesh decided to take up the sport, and started training at a local club.
It was a challenge for the family, but by his own admission, his parents “somehow managed to pay the fees at the club.” And as he started impressing the local coaches, Nidheesh soon caught the attention of Chandrakant Pandit, who back then, was the director of cricket at Kerala Cricket Association.
“I had already played U-23 for Kerala, and thanks to Sir (Pandit), I could make it to the Kerala Ranji Trophy squad. I was a net bowler, but he got me here,” Nidheesh said with a smile, after claiming a fifer – his sixth in first-class cricket – against Jammu and Kashmir in a Ranji Trophy quarterfinal clash.
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At the MCA Stadium on Saturday, the fast bowler maintained discipline and bowled stump-to-stump and managed to trick the J&K batters. “There was initial help from the surface, since the moisture was there. I just exploited the conditions and bowled stump-to-stump,” he said.
While he remained grateful to Pandit, the seasoned coach also recollected those days when he spotted young Nidheesh in a camp. “Back then, the KCA president TC Mathew asked me to watch some of the young guys at the U-23 level, and there were Nidheesh, Basil Thampi and others. I was very impressed with his action, hard work and enthusiasm,” Pandit told Sportstar.
Once, after a training session, Pandit asked Nidheesh about his family. “And that’s when he told me that he travels for more than a couple of hours a side for training and it takes the same amount of time while going back. It was very tiring for him, since he would train for long and then travel so much,” Pandit said. “I requested the association to take care of his food, so that he could take some rest after training and then travel. That was taken care of…”
FILE PHOTO: Kerala Bowler Nidheesh M D in action during Ranji Trophy.
| Photo Credit:
VIJAY SONEJI/ The Hindu.
FILE PHOTO: Kerala Bowler Nidheesh M D in action during Ranji Trophy.
| Photo Credit:
VIJAY SONEJI/ The Hindu.
Pandit, who is now with Madhya Pradesh, remembers Nidheesh as a genuinely hard working and extremely down to earth cricketer. And ever since making his debut in 2015, Nidheesh has always prepared for a game. In fact, back in 2017, his dream came true as he got to practice alongside his ‘idol’ Sreesanth, and he exchanged some ideas with him.
“In the nets, we, the fast bowlers, are used to bowling to Sachin Baby, Rohan Kunnummal, Akshay Chandran, Jalaj Saxena, Shaun Roger. They are brilliant batters even to get out in the nets. So, there also you need to be disciplined to get them out. So the same thing I applied here,” he said about his disciplined bowling show against J&K.
“At times you don’t get wickets, but the only thing you can control is just bowl in the right areas. That’s it,” he said, making it clear that bowling on a juicy surface like the one in Pune is a ‘dream’ for a fast bowler, since they mostly play on turning surfaces back home.