VIP-Raj in Vizag: Nigam seizes the moment for DC

VIJAY Nigam, a primary teacher with a government school in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, always wanted his only child, Vipraj, to become a cricketer.

- FIROZ MIRZA @Chennai

Posting in a remote area, however, was the biggest hurdle depriving his son of a good training facility. Based out of Haidergarh tehsil, Vijay already was travelling around 30-35km to reach his workplace. He decided to double the distance by shifting his base to Barabanki district headquarters with the sole intention of providing Vipraj, then around eight years old, a proper cricket training.

All the hard work put in by the family and Vipraj himself bore fruits as the latter caught everybody's attention on Monday night. He played a match-changing innings of 39 runs, which came off just 15 balls, on his IPL debut for Delhi Capitals against Lucknow Super Giants in Visakhapatnam after picking up a wicket earlier in the match.