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Bengaluru: Perhaps there’s something in the water these days because these cricketing kids don’t seem like kids anymore. They’re bigger and faster, lack naivety, and have an inexplicable maturity with their art. And some are unfathomably better than you’d typically associate with someone that age.
Take Vaibhav Suryavanshi for example. He looks like he can bench-press an ox and he hasn’t turned 14-years-old yet. He, by the way, has already made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar, played some Under-19 games for India and has been bought by Rajasthan Royals for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League.
‘Prodigies’ used to typically sprout from Mumbai’s fertile belly because the system allows for young kids to play more and get better in a shorter duration of time. But, with cricket becoming a sensible career option in the country, parents are allowing - sometimes forcing - kids to be unidimensional with cricket as their totem for success.
Lokesh Arya, living out of a quaint village in Mayaganahalli in Ramanagara district, runs a small garment business and a restaurant in the vicinity. He did well enough over the years to take his foot off the pedal in business and step on the accelerator with his oldest son - Nitish.
That resulted in Nitish going to a cricket camp aged 3-years-old. Nitish is 14-years-old now, and he, arguably, is the most prolific scorer Karnataka has ever seen at his age.
Nitish put up over 1400 runs in the previous season so he was already earmarked as someone to look out for in the future. But the way he has scored this season, you'd be pressed to say he is the future.
In the six age-group tournaments he has played in the 2024-25 season, Nitish has top-scored in every single one of them, including in the ongoing South Zone Inter-State Under-14 boys’ tournament in Puducherry.
His last five innings across three tournaments read (latest first): 157, 203, 187, 302, and 269.
What’s even more impressive is that he has scored all of these runs at a serious clip while still showing that he can dial in and play the long game.
“I haven’t seen someone score like this since probably (Robin) Uthappa or (Deepak) Chougale at this age,” says current Karnataka U-14 coach Kunal Kapoor. “This kid is exceptional. In one of the games, the opposition had all the fielders on the rope and he didn't hesitate to clear all of them."
“There are some things he needs to work on in terms of technique, and we’ll have to see how he fares against better and eventually older players, but as far as scoring runs is concerned, I have not seen anyone have a patch like this,” he added.
Even coach Yogesh from the Brijesh Patel Cricket Academy is at a loss for words. “From the moment the season started, he just kept adding runs. He has good technique and a lot of power and all that but it’s his attitude that separates him. He thinks he’s king. He dominates in the way he walks out to the field and then in the way he picks apart bowlers,” he says of the Swastic Union Cricket Club (1) product.
Sounds familiar? Well, that could be because Nitish has modelled his game after Virat Kohli.
After a few minutes spent talking up Kohli and his learnings from the former Indian captain, Nitish says: “I want to break Sachin's (Tendulkar) record in international cricket. I know I can do it. That has been my dream since I started.”
Lokesh isn’t sure how that dream came about, but he knows that for Nitish to even come close, he will need to stick to his daily shuttle of nearly four hours between Ramanagara and Mekhri Circle, and hope his effort translates into greatness or at least a career.
Cut-off box - RUN SPREE South Zone Inter-State Under-14 boys (Puducherry): Matches: 6 Runs: 676 Highest: 302 Ave: 135.20. SR: 137.68. 100s: 3. KSCA Group I Division I II and III U-14 inter-Club tournament: Swastic Union CC (1): Matches: 8 Runs: 751 Highest: 160 Ave: 93.88 SR: 126.21. 100s: 4 50s: 2. KSCA Inter-District tournament for U-14 teams: President’s XI: Matches: 5 Runs: 615 Highest: 235 Ave: 102.5 SR: 99.67. 100s: 2 50s: 1. KSCA Inter-Zonal Tournament for Under-14 teams: President’s XI: Matches: 5 Runs: 756m Highest: 269 Ave: 126 SR: 105.43. 100s: 1 50s: 1. KSCA BTR Shield for Under-14 Division I teams: Max Muller High School: Matches: 5 Runs: 668 Highest: 192 n.o. Ave: 167 SR: 141.82. 100s: 4. KM Prasad Shield for Under-16 Schools Division I: Max Muller High School: Matches: 5 Runs: 368 Highest: 212 n.o. Ave: 122.67 SR: 116.45. 100s: 1.