Signing you in

“Today will be the most important innings of your career so far. Lamba khelna hai (play long),” read his message to his student, Sanat Sangwan.

Sharma had reason to invest such weight in a message. A year ago, his most famous protégé, Rishabh Pant, had wandered into the nets at Sonnet Cricket Club in Delhi and asked, as he does on every visit, who the next big talent might be. The coach pointed to a left-hander mid-stroke.

“That’s Sanat Sangwan,” he said. “Remember the name. You’ll see him in the Indian team one day.”

Sanat has not disappointed his coach since. In the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy, Sanat finished third on the batting charts, with 828 runs. But nothing in that tally carried the weight of Tuesday’s assignment. South Zone held a 117-run first-innings lead in the Duleep Trophy semi-final. The result seemed a foregone conclusion, but Sanat’s 76 at least ensured that the game reached the fourth day.

Sanat Sangwan and Ayush Doseja put on a fine 104-run stand 👌

North Zone needed someone to rise to the occasion. That someone arrived with a tattoo on his left arm — ‘Still I rise’ — borrowed from the back of a Formula 1 driver he has never met, but has studied like scripture.

Sanat, like Hamilton, meditates every day. It has twofold benefits.

“It gives me the patience required to play a long innings, and also builds the control needed not to give in to your urges.”

The control was visible at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. Sanat scored 21 off his first 49 deliveries. It was not until the 50th delivery that he hit an attacking shot.

“I have a few self-imposed rules. I don’t play any cover drives in the first hour of the game. I also leave all deliveries that are well outside off-stump. After five to six overs, the bowler inevitably gets frustrated and tries to experiment. That is when the loose balls start coming.”

His next 50 balls yielded 35 runs, proof that the theory works.

“Thehraav usme bachpan se hi hai (he has been tranquil ever since he was a kid). When his father first brought him to the academy, a couple of things stood out. Firstly, his grace. Lefties always look graceful when in full flow, but there was something about his strokeplay that was so pleasing to the eye. That aside, he also worked extremely hard. We got him to play a tournament, and he scored seven or eight centuries in 10 matches. I knew immediately that yeh lambi race ka ghoda hai (he is in it for the long run),” Sharma tells this paper.

The longer format has allured the 25-year-old since childhood.

“Red-ball cricket has always been my favourite format. I loved watching Test matches as a kid. This is the toughest format because it tests both skill and patience. From an opener’s perspective, there are so many challenges one has to deal with, both with the new and the older ball,” he had said.

The love, though, has come at a cost. The typecasting and taunts.

Two dreams have long occupied the same shelf in his mind — a Test cap for India, and a conversation with Hamilton. A third dream, once distant, has already come true.

“Virat Kohli has been my idol since childhood. As a child, I loved how he used to rescue India from precarious positions. It was a dream to meet him.”

Sanat got more than just a meeting. In February 2025, he batted alongside Kohli in a Ranji Trophy fixture, which remains the latter’s last tryst with the red ball.

“When I first met him, I had a picture in my mind of this ultra-aggressive cricketer. But the version that I got to see was totally different. He was so humble, so down to earth. I asked for his bat, and he was kind enough to give it to me.”

Besides the bat, Sanat also borrowed something else from the former India captain.

“His work ethic. Even for a Ranji Trophy match, he was so dedicated that we were absolutely stunned.”

Kohli had scored a half-century for North Zone in the 2010 Duleep Trophy. His team lost the match, but he made his Test debut a year later.

Even if North Zone go on to lose the ongoing Duleep Trophy semi-final, the 76 But for Sanat Sangwan, the 76 runs he carved out on Tuesday may be remembered less as an innings than as a beginning.

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