West Indies under – 19 all-rounder Bhaskar Yadram is slowly coming to grips with life after his junior cricketing days as he reflects on his first away stint as a professional cricketer.
Yadram, in 2017, made his first-class debut for the Guyana Jaguars on home soil and featured in two matches. He had to wait almost three years later for his second hit, ironically against his countrymen after he was selected for the Windward Islands Vol-canoes for the recent Cricket West Indies (CWI) Professional Cricket League (PCL) season.
The right-hander only managed 16 with the bat and took 2-23 against the Guyanese in a high-scoring, drawn encounter at St. George’s.
It was his lone first-class appearance this season.
However, he had many more opportunities during the preceding Regional Super–50 tournament in 2019. Although he only managed 48 runs from seven appearances, Yadram fared much better with the ball, capturing seven wickets, second only behind Keron Cottoy’s 10.
“It was a good learning experience for me as a youngster,” the 20-year old, who was based in Grenada told Stabroek Sport.
Noting that the experience was vastly different from his junior encounters, Yadram said his craft has matured.
“It helped me a lot to develop and to become a more mature cricketer… it’s not like under-19 anymore. You have to adapt very fast and be confident in yourself.
“Playing with and against some of the cricketers I’ve watched when I was younger and now getting into the game was a bit nerve-wracking. But I just held my composure and man- up.”
Yadram, who hails from Enterprise on the East Coast of Demerara, said he naturally encountered a number of challenges during his journey, particularly fending for himself away from family and having to adjust to a new team culture.
But he found consolation in Vincentian Desron Maloney, who was also in his first stint with the team and a West Indies under – 19 team-mate.
“After the first week, I was blending in good with my teammates. The training is much harder, so I had to stick it out and not complain. Also, I had to make fast adjustments with the wickets over there. Those were the most challenging things.
“The person I was close to was Alick Athanaze. We were teammates from since WI under-19, so I found someone to be close with and he helped me.
“He told me what it was like when he was in the set up as a youngster like me. He helped me a lot in giving some advice. And from then we became very close, like brothers.
“[And there was] Desron Maloney, it was the first year for both of us and we became good friends from the time we spent there.”
Yadram indicated that he is quite keen to grab another stint with the Volcanoes and improve his numbers. The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is also on his mind.
He relished the opportunity of working with West Indies legend Richie Richardson and Fernex Thomas who he said gave him positive feedbacks which made him feel right at home.
“The coaches were Richie Richardson (head coach) and Fernex Thomas, but I was very close to coach Richie; he helped me a lot when I was there on how to adapt and become a better cricketer and also a better individual.
“The feedback that I got was positive. You know being a youngster inside a senior set up is hard sometimes but I adjusted myself to fit in with them and I really enjoyed being around the team.”
The youngster has a decorated junior career for Guyana and the West Indies unit. He is tipped to go on.
