The craze of Twenty20 cricket started in our country ever since India won the inaugural World Twenty20 cup in 2017 under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. IPL was the brainchild of then BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi. IPL has over time has become given a platform to encourage young talents and exposure for the International standards early in their career and give them a hope that one day they will be able to represent Indian team. The Indian Premier League is one of the most-watched cricket leagues in the world and garnered a lot of popularity ever since its inception in 2008. The league has allowed a lot of youngsters to play international cricket and has revolutionized the sport.
This year in the IPL another star was born in Dayananda Garani who represented Kings XI Punjab and is all set to travel with Indian team to Australia from Dubai. Dayananda Garani is still in shock and the news is till yet to sink in. There was a in time when he was repressing Kolkata Police, also manning traffic on busy Kolkata streets as a Civic Police Volunteer. He continued to work hard on his game and three years down the road, is all set to play with the Andhra Ranji team, he was first as a masseur and post that also had the role as a throwdown specialist. During the IPL 2020, Garani was giving throwdowns to KL Rahul and his teammates as a Kings XI Punjab support staff in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Garani is all set to travel with the Australia from Dubai as a part of the Indian cricket squad. This change has come about due the Indian team’s regular throwdown specialist Raghu falling ill and as a result Garani has been appointed as a replacement. While interacting with the media, Garani was quoted saying “A few days back, Kings XI Punjab manager Avinash Vasantrao told me not to break the bio-bubble, for I would be going from our franchise’s bio-bubble to the Indian team bio-bubble. I don’t know who recommended my name but it’s a dream come true.” The Indian cricket team is all set to kickstart Australian campaign from 27th November.
Garani comes from an agriculturist background and his father is a farmer at Jamitya village. He honed his cricket skills at the Kolaghat Cricket Club, where he was paid Rs 80 per month for playing. Though the family found the sport little expensive and had to struggled to make ends meet. Garani was quoted saying “Dr Malay Pal and Koushik Bhowmik of Cricket Club 80 helped me a lot, both financially and by encouraging me to go to Kolkata to have a cricket career. One-way journey from Kolaghat to Kolkata took more than three hours. I used to return around midnight and the next day the alarm was set for 4 am. Many an occasion, I stayed at their (Malay Pal and Koushik Bhowmik) places.”
Dayananda used to cycle 10 kilometres every day from his village to take a train from Kolaghat to Kolkata. He was a medium pacer and represented Baranagar Sporting Club and White Border Sporting Union in the CAB league. He also opened about his struggling days and said that He was a medium pacer. After playing for Baranagar Sporting Club and White Border Sporting Union in the CAB league, Garani joined Kolkata Police in 2013. “Financial constraints stopped my cricket after that. Debraj Nahata, the secretary of the Kolkata Police Club, helped me get the Civic Police job. He also advised me to do fitness training and masseur courses. I did a diploma on nature therapy apart from doing a certificate courses on strength and conditioning. I also earned a degree in massage therapy.”
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