The hard way: Gautam Kamble

DETERMINATION, it is believed, makes you do things you never thought were possible. How else would you explain an 18-year-old's daily grind that allows him, on a cricket field, to gain some happiness and a lot of hope for a better future.

Gautam Eknath Kamble is your typical Mumbai cricketer, who wishes to make it big someday. But with no support from home (the family lives in the Antop Hill slums) Gautam has to make sure he is never a burden on the family.

So, he works the graveyard shift (9 pm to 6 am) as a computer designer (his salary has now doubled from the 2000 he earns); then heads to college at 10. An afternoon nap precedes practice at the Dadar Parsee Zoroastrian club in Matunga. And straight after practice, it's back to work. Often, even proper sleep appears like a luxury.

"I believe I can make a name in cricket. If I can manage it, then my family won't have to worry about money," says the Ambedkar college student, who was one of the many at the talent hunt organised by the Kolkata Knight Riders yesterday.

Family pressure

There's always pressure from the family, says Gautam, to give up cricket and for reasons one can understand. They would rather want their son to work and be of help at home.

"They are not very interested in cricket. They know I am a batsman but they don't know much more. They keep telling me to give up cricket and concentrate on work. But this is not something I want to give up," he says.

With the help of DPZ's Mangesh Bhalekar, who offers him equipment and clothing without any fee, Gautam just about managed to break into the Mumbai under-19 squad. He was eventually named as a reserve.

But such setbacks are not going to stop him. "I won't give up," he says when asked about how long would he keep trying? "As long as there's hope, I will keep trying."

One reason for that hope could be coming from a certain Dinesh Salunkhe.

Salunkhe also came from the same area as Gautam and played for DPZ before making it big with IPL champions Rajasthan Royals.