The IPL Specialist

Swarup Mishra received the Man of the Series Award for the IPL 14 .He was nicknamed as the IPL Specialist for his all round performance in this season.He was overwhelmed with happiness.He was living in a dream!

While giving his interview to a magazine, he recalled his journey!

It all started after he played for the Under-19 World Cup.His performance was all-round.He scored runs,took wickets,fielded well,took catches and was the man of the Series in the mega event. India had won the Under-19 World Cup and Swarup was the find of the event!

After basking for sometime in the World Cup glory, he was picked up by the Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL team for a whopping two crore rupees!

He could not believe his ears when he got a call from the team manager that he would be wearing the Hyderabad team jersey this season.

Swarup was a small town boy.He has one younger sibling and his parents are middle class people and are simple human beings. He had to convince his parents when he made a decision to make cricket his profession. It was quite a difficult task for him as his family was orthodox and didnot believe in unconventional careers!

However he is happy that he had made a good decision. This profession has given him name,fame and money.

After being picked up by the Hyderabad team, he started training with the team coach Trevor Bayliss.He got to learn many things from him.He also worked on his bowling and fielding, besides batting. He took this opportunity as if it were his last one! He followed a strict diet plan and said a total no to all the junk food.In his free time he played football and volleyball for strengthening his legs and hands muscles.He got up early and practiced Pranayam and yoga daily.This improved his mental strength and confidence. 

Finally the IPL started.His team won the toss in the first match and he went in to bat at no.4.He scored a brisk 49 runs.He missed his first fifty by a whisker!His team scored 189 runs.

His bowling figures were equally impressive. He took three wickets and gave 30 runs. His team won the first match.

The second match was tuff one.It was against the defending champions, Mumbai Indians.Swarup did perform well with 32 runs and 4 wickets in his kitty.However this could not prevent his team from losing the match.

The next match was against the Kolkata Knightriders team.The Kolkata team scored a massive 230 runs in their twenty overs.No one was thinking about a hiccup.However as luck would have it, Swarup scored a hundred in this match.He took three wickets and one catch too.And was adjudged the Man of the Match.And Hyderabad won this high profile match to come in second position in the points table.

The fourth match was with the Whistle podu team, the Chennai Superkings.Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a captain's innings and steered his team to a resounding victory! However Swarup's performance got noticed .

Their fifth match was with the Punjab team.It was a head-to-head match with both the teams playing to their potential. Both teams scored in excess of two hundred runs.However the Hyderabad team pulled up a last ball win and kept themselves alive in the tournament. 

Their sixth match was with the Rajasthan Royals team.The Hyderabad team played superbly and had a comfortable nine wickets win.The Rajasthan team could only manage 130 runs!

Their last match was with the Bengaluru team.The team scored 234 runs with Virat Kohli and AB Devillers scoring their fifties.They bowled well too.The Hyderabad team also managed to score runs and the scores were tied!The super over came in Virat Kohli and AB Devillers scored 18 runs in the six balls.

Now it was Swarup's turn.Swarup hit three consecutive sixes and then a four, to seal the victory for his team!

Now it was playoffs.The Hyderabad team had to face the Kolkata team in their first playoff. The Kolkata Knightriders scored only 140 runs.Swarup took four wickets and then made a quick fire 30 runs to steer his team to a grand win!

Then the semi-final match came.The whistle podu team 'The Chennai Superkings' was basking with their resounding win over the Bengaluru team in the playoffs. 

In this match Suresh Raina scored seventy runs and took his team to 190 runs.It was a nice total.Had he stayed back for two more overs their team would have easily crossed two hundred run mark. 

Now it was the turn of the Sunrisers team.Swarup and Manish Pandey scored their fifties.Kane Williamson and David Warner steered their team to a resounding win in the final overs.Jason Roy and Priyam Garg took three wickets each.

Now the final match was with the defending champions, the Mumbai Indians.This team had won the 2019 and 2020 IPL title and were the team to beat in this season.

Rohit Sharma scored his first hundred of the season and also the first this season.He hit six sixes in his innings.He was able supported by Chris Lynn and Suryakumar Yadav.The team's score was 233 runs!

Swarup and Abdul Samad opened the innings for the Hyderabad team.Both scored a brisk thirty runs and then got out.Kane Williamson and David Warner and Mitchell Marsh however scored fifties and took their team's total to 233 runs.And yes, it was a tie.

Then the superover came in.The Mumbai team scored twenty three runs.Now it was the turn of Swarup and his team.Swarup hit two sixes and two fours and then took a single .Kane Williamson hit a four and steered the Hyderabad team to their historic IPL win!

Swarup was adjudged the Man of the Tournament for his all round performance. 

Swarup had tears in his eyes when he finished his interview! He held his trophy in his hands and poses for photographs at the end of the interview. 

The next day as he was returning from his workout at the gym, he got a call from a national selector.He was selected in the National team and would wear the blue cap in the Australia series next month!