Priyam Garg

Hailing from village Quila Parikshitgarh, about 25km from Meerut, Priyam picked up a bat and ball at the tender age of six. Priyam Garg has risen through the adversities to make a stamp of himself on the cricketing world.

Table of Contents

1. Career
2. Background

Career

Domestic Career

Priyam Garg made his debut for the Uttar Pradesh Cricket senior side in September 2018 in a Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Saurashtra at the mere age of 17. The next month he was playing in the Ranji Trophy and scored a century in his debut game against Goa. In December 2018, during the match against Tripura, he scored his maiden double century in first-class cricket.

By the time the top domestic competition ended, Garg had amassed 814 runs in 10 matches. It was the second-highest tally for Uttar Pradesh in the 2018-19 season, where they entered the quarter-finals. Garg’s promise was evident from the beginning after all the teenager had hit a half-century in his first season with the Uttar Pradesh under-14 side, when he was just 12.

U-19 Career

Garg’s journey is yet to hit the crescendo, but it touched an important milestone in December last year when he was named the captain of the India U-19 team for the World Cup in South Africa. With Garg taking on the captaincy of the Indian side, he joined the auspicious company of Virat Kohli (2008), Mohd Kaif (2000), Prithvi Shaw (2018), all of whom went on to play for the senior national team.He led India to the finals where the team came agonizingly close to winning the fifth title. Priyam, however, on a personal note couldn’t perform as well as he would have iked in the World Cup.

IPL career

Priyam Garg was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a sum of Rs 1.90 crore for IPL 2020. His ‘senior’ record tells you why: a first-class average of 66.69, a List-A average of 47.13, and a T20 strike rate of 132.74 was more than enough to make up for the dud of U-19 WC. The 2020 season can be huge for the youngster in terms of his development at the highest platform of the cricket.

Background

One among five children of Naresh Garg, driver of a school van in the Quila Parikshitgarh village near Meerut, Priyam couldn’t afford to buy a cricket kit as a youngster. His mother had passed away when the junior India star was only 11. His father had to borrow money from a friend and buy him a set of pads, bat etc. The youngster was encouraged to work hard on his skills and not worry about the family’s finances.

The Victoria Park Ground where many budding cricketers from Meerut, including Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, took baby steps to bigger stage was 20km from Garg’s hometown. However, Priyam Garg continued unperturbed and is all set to lit up the IPL stage this time around.