26 December 2004, the day when the Tsunami rattled the coast of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, life changed for several communities. One of the thousands impacted is the current star of Tamil Nadu Premier League, W Antony Dhas.
That was a huge turning point for Dhas, who hails from a family of fishermen. He was just another teenager who played tennis-ball and rubber-ball cricket, but slowly and gradually went on to start a professional career in the sport.
Initially, Dhas had no other option but to give up school for fishing. When he was in class VII, his father suffered a serious injury after being struck by a catamaran. The responsibility of feeding his family, educating his five sisters and marrying them off lay on his shoulders. But wasn’t going to give up.
During an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, Dhas said, "It (Tsunami) was a life-changing moment for me. People around me lost their lives and livelihood. My catamaran was broken to pieces. I felt that it was the right time for me to pursue my dream of being a cricketer.”
“I was also spurred on by my friends, who always motivated me and gave me confidence that I can do well playing with the cricket ball. One of my friends helped me join the Sunny Cricket Club, a Kanyakumari DCA league first-division team in Nagercoil."
The transition from playing with a rubber ball to playing with a cricket ball was not easy for him as he faced a lot of difficulties while bowling. When the first time he was bowling with the cricket ball, his fingers started to bleed while gripping the seam of the ball. He also said that he found it hard while running on to bowl wearing shoes.
Over the last few years, Dhas rose through the ranks of TNCA divisional leagues and is currently playing for Alwarpet CC in the first division. The 27-year old is tailor made for the T20 format and is a regular in TN's T20 starting XI.
He made it to the state team in 2014 and made his List A and T20 debut soon after. He also thanked the senior cricketers for giving him confidence before going out to play.
He said, "When I went into the TN team, it had senior cricketers like Murali Vijay, R Ashwin, Rajagopal Sathish, Dinesh Karthick and Lakshmipathy Balaji, who are veterans and have represented India. They always motivated me to do well and Balaji, in particular, helped me out in bowling yorkers, slower ones and adapting to the situation."
The TNPL has given him a huge opportunity to showcase his talent to the cricket fraternity and help him fulfill his dreams.
Playing for Chepauk Super Gillies in the TNPL, Dhas has picked up 8 wickets in 4 matches at a run a ball and with an average of 9. When asked about the feat and his targets going into the second half of the tournament, Dhas said he always wants his team to win.
“I would like to see my team do well and win the tournament. I look to punch above my weight during the matches and make my team win," he said.
He also thanked his coach Hemang Badani for helping him out on how to deal with the pressure of playing such a big tournament. Playing for the first time in front of a huge crowd and thousands of people watching the matches on television didn't put pressure on the right-arm medium pacer.
He added, "Before our first match, I asked my coach (Badani) on how to deal with pressure during the matches. He asked me to watch the ball throughout the match as it makes me feel that I am in the game and it gave me a lot of confidence. Even while playing for TN, I had a lot of pressure and I enjoy thriving under it."
The fans' support is something that helps the all-rounder immensely as his entire fisherman locality came to see him play at the ICL ground in Tirunelveli a few days back. When asked about this, Dhas thanked all his friends and family members, who came all the way from Nagercoil to see him play.
"My parents always supported me. My entire locality has watched me play on TV, but them coming all the way to see me play was a different experience and it motivated me to perform well".
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After a superb performance in the TNPL, playing in IPL is no longer a distant dream for Dhas, who went unpicked in the 2016 auctions in which he had a base price (BP) of 30 lakhs. Although he assured that he will play in the IPL one day.
“Before the last auction, few teams supported me and it made me put a base price of 30 lakhs for myself. When I quoted my BP, I felt I was worth that money and when I went unsold, it hurt me a lot. I don't think to have 30 lakhs as a BP was the reason behind me not getting a chance to play in the IPL.
“I always wanted to play at the next level and that is the reason why I registered myself in the IPL. I would like to work towards achieving that and playing in the IPL one day.”
Being a fast bowling all-rounder, a breed which the Indian cricket has been lacking in the recent past, Dhas also said he wants to represent India some day.
"In the past, I got a lot of job offers, but I turned them down because I always wanted to create history as a fisherman who played cricket for the country. In the last few years, it has been a trend that players performing well in the IPL went on to represent the Indian team. If I play in the IPL, I am confident that I will represent India in the future," he concluded.
From being a young boy who played cricket in the day and went fishing at night to becoming one of the stars of TNPL, life has come a long way for Antony Dhas. If he continues his good work, one day, he might be the fast bowling all-rounder India has been searching for in the last two decades.
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