Published: Aug 06, 2015, 11:52 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 06, 2015, 12:12 PM (IST)
Rajasthan Middle-order batsman Robin Bist who has been among a lot of runs last year, thinks that he has not got the rightful backing from the Rajasthan Cricket Association. He has now received the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Indian board and hence will play for Himachal Pradesh from the next season. Bist had moved to Rajasthan during his early days for greater fortuity. 27-year old Bist was born in Delhi and had played the game there in his childhood days. At present, Bist is not happy with the prevalent state of circumstances in Rajasthan. Last year, BCCI had suspended the Rajasthan Cricket Association since it had allowed a ‘banned individual’ to be a part of the proceedings. This was after some time had elapsed for Lalit Modi having been named the President last year. READ: Dharmasala cricket ground inspires Himachal Pradesh to develop football academy in the city
Bist was quoted as saying by The Indian Express, “All states are either in between their pre-season camp or done with it. We (in Rajasthan) don’t even know whether we would play this year or not. It was the same last year. Our camp started mid-September, and one-dayers were on us by October. It left us with very little preparation time,” Bist feels that all the mayhem that had taken place after the suspension has made life difficult for the players in Rajasthan. Owing to all this chaos he was compelled to sign a two year contract with Himachal Pradesh. ALSO READ: Himachal Pradesh partially waive entertainment tax on Kings XI Punjab IPL matches
Bist further said, “We couldn’t even participate in the Buchi Babu (tournament) due to this.” It needs to be asserted that Bist had surpassed 1000 run mark in the 2011-12 Ranji season but has been given only one opportunity to play for India ‘A’. He aforesaid, “I have scored 1000 runs in a season, so have KL Rahul and Kedar Jadhav. You can see the difference here itself. They are playing for the senior team and I have got only one innings for India ‘A’. You can see how much backing I have got from the association. Had everything been in order, Rajasthan could have been what the Karnataka side is right now — invincible,”
Already nearing his 28th birthday, Bist’s target is to get a call within the next two years and he also thinks that it’s crucial to be a part of the proceedings where a player is given acknowledgement and chance for all the hard work that he has done. “I aspire to play for the country and the next two years are very crucial for my career. You know what happens to a cricketer in our country as soon as he turns 30,” said the batsman. “I don’t want to waste these two years in confusion and suspense, and want to give my best shot and do what I did for Rajasthan in the past — score plenty of runs. Every player wants to take their game to the next level. I don’t just want to play Ranji cricket. Even I want to get fair shot at playing in the IPL, ‘A’ tours.”
Now, the question arises what had made him pick Himachal Pradesh? Bist chuckled at this as many others had also asked him similar questions. He confessed, “Himachal have been doing really well over the last 2-3 years and have players breaking into the ‘A’, U-19 and senior squads. Rishi Dhawan, Paras Dogra, Ankush Bains, all have been doing a great job. At the end of the day, I need to score runs.” He further added, “Even Anurag Thakur ji won’t push for players scoring a duck or performing poorly.”
