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From the outside, Indian cricketers' lives seem very luxurious. That is, of course, true. Indian cricketers enjoy superstar status in the country, and can avail most benefits the common man can only dream of.
Till the 70s and 80s, Indian cricketers were paid modestly, and used to travel via humble means like trains for cricket tournaments. All that changed as the sport's popularity grew in India in the 90s, leading to the commercialisation of cricket.
Modern-day Indian cricketers can earn handsome pay even by taking part in the IPL or playing any of the three formats of the sport for India. One thing that remains common, though, is the story of hardships many Indian cricketers have to endure before getting the big break.
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The inspirational rise of Indian cricketers from humble backgrounds
Let' take a look at the stirring tales of Indian cricketers who beat tough times and ended up earning coveted India caps:
#1 MS Dhoni: Ticket to fame
Today, MS Dhoni may be known as a style iconic apart from being one of India’s most revered cricketers. But Dhoni had extremely humble beginnings.
Born in Ranchi, Bihar (now in Jharkhand), he needed to work to be able to pursue his cricketing dream. And so, Dhoni worked as a Train Ticket Examiner (TTE) at Kharagpur railway station in West Bengal for a few years in the early 2000s. That gave him a chance to represent the South Eastern Railways (SER) cricket team.
Dhoni juggled his life between checking train tickets and playing cricket. He is still remembered by his ex-colleagues as an honest and earnest employee. During his time there, Dhoni played a lot of tennis-ball cricket as well. According to the book ‘MSD, The Man, The leader’, Dhoni earned Rs 2,000 per match.
Who would have thought that a few years later he would go on to become one of Indian cricket’s brightest stars?
#2 Ravindra Jadeja: Keeping a watch
Team India’s star all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja was born into a middle-class Rajput family in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
His father was a watchman and, after Jadeja's mother had passed away when he was only 17, his sister took up the responsibility to support the family. The family used to live in a one-room flat that was allotted to the cricketer's late mother, as she was a nurse at a government hospital.
Battling the trauma of losing his mother, Jadeja got his much-needed break in cricket when he was selected for India U-19 in 2005. The young cricketer was the vice-captain of the 2008 U-19 side that won the World Cup.
Before the age of 24, Jadeja had three triple hundreds in First-Class cricket. It was only a matter of time before he made it big in international cricket too.
#3 Hardik Pandya: Not all glitz and glamour
Go to his Instagram account today and you will mostly find uber-cool pictures of Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya in his rockstar avatar. But life was not always like that for the Indian all-rounder. As he was growing up, his family, hailing from Surat in Gujarat, had a tough time making ends meet.
His late father, Himanshu, had a small car finance business in Surat. He shut that down and moved to Vadodara to aid his sons (Hardik and Krunal) in getting better cricket facilities, enrolling them at Kiran More’s Cricket Academy.
In 2016, Hardik revealed in an interview to The Indian Express that five-rupee Maggi was their breakfast and lunch for 365 days non-stop, as they did not have any money. He was quoted as saying:
“Five rupees ke maggi aati thi, malli ko request karke garam pani leta tha aur mein aur mere bhai ground pe bana ke khata the. Breakfast bhi wohi aur lunch bhi wohi (my brother and I used to get maggi for Rs 5, and we used to request the gardener to give us hot water, and we used to prepare and eat it at the ground for lunch and breakfast).
Hardik and his brother Krunal played local tournaments and earned Rs 400-500 to support the family, which was deep in debt. Fortunes took a turn for the good when Pandya was picked up by Mumbai Indians for INR 10 lakh during the IPL 2015 auction. The rest, as they say, is history.
#4 Jasprit Bumrah: The power of one
Indian cricket’s no. 1 bowler across formats has a long association with the number ‘one’.
Jasprit Bumrah lost his father when he was just five, and his mother endured many struggles raising her son. The cricketer recalled in a video shared by Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2019 that, as a child, he had only one pair of shoes and one pair of T-shirts. He said:
"After that (his father’s death), we couldn't afford anything. I had one pair of shoes. I used to have one pair of T-shirts. I used to wash them and use it again and again. So, as a child, you know you hear stories that sometimes these things happen that some people come and watch you and you get picked up like this. But it actually happened.”
Bumrah was picked for the IPL, and made his debut as a 19-year-old in the 2013 edition of the competition. He dismissed Virat Kohli while playing for Mumbai Indians against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and hasn’t looked back since.
#5 T Natarajan: Turning poverty into opportunity
Before earning a name as ‘yorker king’ in the IPL and later making an impressive debut for India, T Natarajan struggled to put the next meal on the table.
He was born into an extremely poor family. His father used to work as a daily wage labourer in Chinnapampatti village, 36 km from Salem city in Tamil Nadu. His mother used to sell chicken at a roadside stall.
Natarajan started playing cricket with a tennis ball, and it was not until 20 that he decided to take up the sport seriously. And once he did that, he was fully committed to the cause, even in the wake of financial hardships.
Natarajan made his First-Class debut for Tamil Nadu in the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy. But it was after being picked by Punjab Kings for INR 3 crore in the IPL 2017 auction that Natarajan’s fortunes changed for the better. He is now an integral part of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowling line-up.
#6 Chetan Sakariya: Staring tragedy in the face
The story of Chetan Sakariya’s rise in Indian cricket would leave you misty-eyed. The Saurashtra left-arm fast bowler’s father was a lorry driver, who was bedridden after meeting with three accidents and undergoing multiple surgeries.
While growing up, Sakariya worked at his uncle’s stationery shop to support his family. His uncle financed the bowler’s cricketing expenses. Nevertheless, the cricketer couldn’t even afford shoes for himself, and Saurashtra batsman Sheldon Jackson gifted him a pair.
After impressing for Saurashtra, Sakariya became a known name overnight when he was picked up by Rajasthan Royals at the IPL 2021 auction for INR 1.2 crore. It was a bitter-sweet feeling for Sakariya, though, as his brother died of suicide a few weeks later.
While Sakariya impressed in the IPL, the cricketer’s father lost his battle with COVID-19 a few days after the tournament was suspended due to the same virus outbreak. The youngster recently made his debut for India in Sri Lanka. He fights on...
#7 Umesh Yadav: Coal mine to cricket star
Born in Nagpur, Maharashtra, Team India pacer Umesh Yadav is the son of a coal mine worker. He spent his early years in a village where the labourers used to live. As his family was struggling financially, Yadav applied for jobs in the Police and the Army, but was rejected at both places.
He then pursued his passion for cricket. Yadav's talent was spotted during a local T20 tournament in Nagpur by a district-level secretary. However, until he was 20, Yadav didn’t even hold the season ball.
Picked for a summer coaching camp, he was insulted by the coach because he could not afford shoes with spikes. The young cricketer almost gave up on his cricketing dream before being persuaded against it by a friend.
Umesh Yadav made his First-Class cricket debut for Vidarbha against Madhya Pradesh in the 2008–09 Ranji Trophy.
After impressing with his pace, Yadav was handed his India debut against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in an ODI in 2010. He made his Test debut in November 2011 against West Indies, becoming the first player from Vidarbha to do so.
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