IPL 2019: Prayas Ray Barman entangled between studies and cricket

At the age of 16, the majority of youth remain busy deciding what to do with their career. However, 16-year old Prayas Ray Barman is an exception by a mile. On Sunday, the teenager made his debut in the Indian Premier League (IPL) when he played for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). But then again he is not very different from the boys of his age and he too has his duty as a student.

Prayas is appearing for his class 12 CBSE board exams this year and is unsurprisingly finding it difficult to juggle between exam and cricket. Just two before his IPL debut, Prayas, who studies commerce at the Kalyani Public School in Kolkata, was to appear for his Economics paper.  He will now appear for his Entrepreneurship exam on April 4 before re-joining the team on the eve of the match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 5.

Prayas’ father, Dr. Kaushik Ray Barman revealed how tough it is for his son to manage the studies and his cricket. He also revealed that Prayas is getting full support from the team. “It’s tough but he is managing it. He has the full support of the team,”  Dr. Kaushik was quoted as saying in The Indian Express.

“(Virat) Kohli, AB (de Villiers) and (coach Gary) Kirsten are obviously encouraging him at the nets. Obviously, they have seen some potential in him to pick him ahead of the experienced duo of (Pawan) Negi and Washington Sundar,” he added.

Prayas’ father further revealed how Virat Kohli told the young leg-spinner about his debut just moments before the game. “We were shocked to see his name in the line-up in RCB’s very third match. But he was not nervous,” said Barman senior.

Record and a day to forget:

Sunday was a mixed day for Barman. He became the youngest IPL debutant at 16 years and 157 days. The previous youngest was Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman at 17 years and 11 days for Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2018. But his delight soon turned into despair after Sunrisers batsmen hit him all over the park. The youngster eventually finished the game with figures of 0 for 56 off his four overs.

Prayas started well and had conceded just six runs in his first over while bowling to the likes of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow. However, things went in the downward direction for him as the free-flowing batters took him to the cleaners in his next three overs.

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