Every April, young cricketers from small towns across India enter the world of IPL — five-star hotels, foreign coaches, franchise millions, parties they would have never imagined. This series tells their stories, in their words, of what that crossing feels like.
Pradeep Sangwan remembers the first time he saw his idol Adam Gilchrist in the flesh. It was 2008. He was eighteen. “Everything was a big surprise for us. We were just looking here and there. All were our idols. Jahan dekho sab bade players. It was a dream. It was a big surprise for that generation.”
The Delhi left-arm pacer had been picked by Delhi Daredevils — chosen ahead of Virat Kohli. The two had come up together. At the Vikaspuri Coaching Centre in West Delhi — the same corner of the capital that produced Kohli — Sangwan had been working on his bowling, knowing Sehwag’s weakness for the cut shot and bowling at the crease accordingly. Sehwag noticed, had a word with the state selectors, and Sangwan was in the Ranji side. Seven wickets in two one-dayers was enough. On India’s Under-19 tour of Sri Lanka, the two West Delhi boys had batted together — Sangwan contributing a half-century down the order to help India win. Same neighbourhood, same Under-19 squad, same draft. Then the IPL split them — Kohli to Bangalore, Sangwan to Delhi.
Kohli himself would later recall the draft moment. “Delhi decided to go for him because they wanted their bowling strengthened and RCB picked me,” he said on a podcast. “I remember the day when the draft was happening. The amount that we were picked for, when they revealed, we couldn’t believe it. We went absolutely crazy.”
The money arrived before anyone knew what to do with it.
“Ranji had match fees of 10,000 then and suddenly we saw players getting 40-50 lakh. We didn’t know what to do with so much money. Everyone had gone mad,” Sangwan says. He and Kohli had just won the Under-19 World Cup together, collecting 16 lakh in prize money.
“Virat landed and straight away went to book a Honda Civic. I said go home first but he said, nahi bhai, car lega pehle.”
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Sangwan’s team had Sehwag, Gambhir, Dilshan. Shikhar Dhawan sat on the bench. Mithun Manhas, now the BCCI president, didn’t get a game for an entire year.
“Scooter se seedha Mercedes mil gayi thi. Life changed.”
In the 2008 IPL Draft, Pradeep Sangwan was picked by Delhi Daredevils instead of Virat Kohli. (Photo: Special arrangement)
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The pressure came in the team meetings. Before a game against Chennai Super Kings, the room was talking about how to bowl to Matthew Hayden. Where he hits. How far he hits. What he does when you pitch it up. What he does when you pitch it short. “Darr ka mahool tha ekdum.”
Sangwan’s first encounter with Hayden taught him what the meetings couldn’t. He bowled to Hayden and went for 13. The next over, Yo Mahesh went for 18 or 22. Sehwag called up Avishkar Salvi.
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In the first two balls, Hayden hit two sixes. Sangwan ran over. “Bhai, yorker daalo. Coaches have told us, whenever he walks down the track, bowl him full yorker.”
Salvi looked at him. “He has such a big thigh, I couldn’t see the stump.”
“I said, okay, tab jaise phekna hai pheko.” Sangwan was laughing on the field when Sehwag caught him. “Why are you laughing? Why are you biting your teeth?” Sehwag was furious. Sangwan told him after the game. Sehwag laughed a lot.
Bowling to Hayden felt like facing the alien from Terminator. He would walk fifteen steps down the pitch. The quicker you bowled, the further he hit. Then came the mongoose bat.
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“It was Umesh Yadav’s debut match. Hayden came out with a small bat. We were thinking, yeh kya laya bhai? Bachpan mein thappi kehte tey. I felt he will get out.” Hayden slammed Yadav straight. The ball came back to Sangwan at a crazy height. “He scored 70 and we were thinking, kahan run lagega is bat-sey.”
Even the umpires were afraid. Players like Hayden and Chris Gayle loved hitting straight. Sehwag once told the umpire: “Bowlers toh marenge hi, but tum bhi mar sakte ho.” The umpire stood ten steps back.
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But Sangwan could bowl. He had his own way of reading batsmen. In the same innings, he had dismissed Rohit Sharma — spotting a tendency to be late in shifting his weight forward from domestic cricket. A short extra-cover was placed. Rohit was lured into a fatal uppish drive.
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Pradeep Sangwan played for Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders , Gujarat Lions, Gujarat Titans, and Mumbai Indians. (Photo: Special arrangement)
Then came Gilchrist. “Bhai TV pe he dekha tha and now I have to bowl to them. Pressure was at peak. Everyone was talking ke yeh yahan marta hai, wahan marta hai. But any bowler, who is a fan of someone, and suddenly that person stands in front of you — that is the moment you want to stay with your life. No feeling can express that.”
Sehwag brought Sangwan back in the eleventh over. He bowled Gilchrist with a full delivery. Not sensational. Just right. It did the trick.
The boy who couldn’t believe he was bowling to his idol had just bowled him.
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Sehwag’s captaincy was simple. When Sangwan looked to him for field changes or ideas, the answer was always the same. “Yeh mera kaam thodi hai, soch ke aaya kar.” Bowl your plan. Set your field. Don’t ask me.
Sangwan played for Delhi Daredevils, KKR, Gujarat Lions, Gujarat Titans, and Mumbai Indians. Across those years and those franchises, he learned one thing that separated the players who lasted from the ones who didn’t. “What defines a big player and an average player is showing and understanding of the game. Everyone has skill. But players don’t need to get carried away seeing their idols. Players do feel low in confidence — but the ones who last find a way to overcome it.”
He had seen it from the first auction. An eighteen-year-old on a scooter one day, in a Mercedes the next. A teammate booking a Honda Civic before going home. A bowler who couldn’t see the stumps past Hayden’s thighs. The IPL gave them everything at once — the money, the stars, the pressure, the fear. What it didn’t give them was time to understand any of it.
