The whole package

Postal worker Mohit Khatri delivers more than just the mail. In a cricket-crazy country, he delivers tackles, huddles and expert collisions on the rugby field. There's new interest in the sport, and a new league. Are we looking at its new poster boy too?

- Reshil Charles

To anyone dropping in to the India Post office at Delhi's Connaught Place, Mohit Khatri, 27, will seem like an ordinary employee. He spends most workdays making entries in a register and tracking parcels. But look closer. At 5'8", muscles straining against his shirt, Khatri seems much too well-built for the job. He seems much too focused too. It's like spotting Clark Kent after you've watched the Superman movie. Something isn’t quite adding up.

All this depends, of course, if you spot Khatri at the Post Office at all. He does lead something of a double life. In his Superman avatar, Khatri serves as captain of Indian Rugby 7s, and has also led his state team of Haryana to three rugby championship wins. At the moment, he’s training hard with his club, the Delhi Hurricanes, for an all-India tournament. If you've watched even a bit of rugby, it is no less than a gladiatorial battle.

The sport is heating up in India. The first-ever edition of the Rugby Premier League (RPL) was held in Mumbai in June, with Indian and international players across six teams. Khatri, hybrid player for Bengaluru Bravehearts, was the most expensive among them. The franchise acquired him for ₹4.75 lakh. It was a nail-biting series. Bengaluru Bravehearts finished in fourth position, while underdogs Chennai Bulls won the league and took home ₹45 lakh in prize money.

But Khatri is just hitting his stride and starting to pay attention to the bigger picture. “The league gave Indian rugby players an opportunity to go shoulder-to-shoulder with international ones we have been watching over the years,” he says. It made him realise how far he, and the game, need to go. “If we want to play at the Olympics and get recognition, we have a lot of work to do.”

Field of dreams