After a long inconsistent run of form, Macneil Hadley Noronha was a worried man. Noronha’s strong religious belief, and wise words from a coach, helped spark a turnaround.
Turning out for Karnataka in the recent C. K. Nayudu Trophy, Noronha came into his own with two triple centuries, against Uttarakhand and Tripura.
Having amassed 1,037 runs from eight games, the opener finished as the highest run-scorer of the tournament. The Bengaluru lad was rewarded with a spot with the Rest of India Under-23 team which will take on C. K. Nayudu Trophy champion Punjab this week.
“I hadn’t scored for about 14-15 innings. I was low on confidence. Then our Karnataka under-23 assistant coach Rohit Sabharwal said, ‘When you are batting, it does not matter what you feel inside. Focus only on batting’. This advice helped me a great deal,” Noronha told Sportstar.
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Noronha points to a sticker on his bat – Isaiah 60:22 – which states that God’s plan will unfold in its own time.
Sacrifices made for cricket
Noronha’s coach Irfan Sait, Director, Karnataka Institute of Cricket (KIOC), spoke about spotting his talent early. Noronha spent his childhood in the UAE, and it took a lot of sacrifice for the family to move to Bengaluru for the sake of his cricket.
“Initially, Noronha would train here and go back to UAE. When Noronha was around 13, I told his parents that he should move to Bengaluru as his future was bright here. It was a big sacrifice. He has an elder sister, and his dad ran a business in the UAE. So his father stayed back in Dubai, and his mother moved to Bengaluru with Noronha,” Sait said.
For Noronha, a student of REVA University, the gamble to move to Bengaluru has started to pay off. “I never imagined that I would 1,000 runs, especially in the form I was in. But it is up to God. He knew the gamble we took all those years ago. All the hard work is paying off now,” Noronha said.