Mattancherry Streets to Jakarta Stadium

ROM the crowded streets of Mattancherry, where he first picked up a bat, to the lush outfields of Jakarta, where he now trains, the cricket pitch was always a second home for Vineet Shah.

- RONNIE KURIAKOSE

Now, the 35-year-old has scripted history by becoming the first Keralite to don the Indonesian national cricket jersey. Vineet made his international debut on June 12 in a T20I match against Cambodia.

"I scored 18 off 18 balls. We lost that match, sadly," Vineet tells TNIE. "But we came back strong in the next game."

He went on to play four matches in the seven-match series, scoring 39 (43 balls) and 20 (23) in subsequent games. Indonesia lost the series 5-2, but for this youngster from Mattancherry, just being part of it was "a dream I never thought I'd live."

Born and raised in Kochi, Vineet's cricketing roots run deep. "It started in childhood. My dad was a cricket enthusiast, and we used to watch the matches together. Our neighbourhood in Mattancherry was full of cricket fanatics, so the game just became a part of life," he says.