Shaik Rasheed’s story from rags to riches and what did Dhoni tell his father

A seven-year-old Shaik Rasheed was taken to a summer camp in Uppal for cricket with around 300 others who were double his age. His father, Shaik Balisha Vali, was soon called by the coaches and told about his son’s incredible batting abilities and persuaded to give his son full-time coaching.

“Before this, I did not know he was that talented, but after this, I took him daily to practice and brought him back home,” Balisha Vali told The Indian Express. Under AG Prasad, Rasheed honed his batting skills and returned to his hometown Guntur for trials where he would get selected for the U-14 Andhra state side and also the U-16 Guntur Zilla side immediately.

Soon, came a moment when the father worried if his young son was ready. It came when he was selected for an ACA academy, one of just 20 players picked. “Balisha Vali recalled consulting the head coach of the academy Krishna Rao as he was worried about his child’s welfare.

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“I told him (Krishna Rao) he still wets the bed,” he says with a laugh. “He was very young at the time and the academy was in Mangalgiri. I was in two minds whether I should join him or not, and then I consulted Krishna Rao.”

Shaik Rasheed with AG Prasad. (Special arrangement) Shaik Rasheed with AG Prasad. (Special arrangement)

The coach Krishna Rao talks about the trait that impressed him most. “Just at the age of nine, he had a good ball sense. After watching the ball, one should know if he had to go on the backfoot or go on to the frontfoot, that is ball sense, and he had it in him,” Krishna Rao explains why he put a nine-year old Rasheed in the age group of U-14.

Soon, Rasheed was leading teams. “He was also captain at all the state levels in age-group cricket,” says Gaddam Venkata Sarath Babu. “When MSK Prasad was the operations director in Andhra Cricket, they sent two players to the UK. From Nellore, they picked up Revanth Reddy, and alongside him, they also sent Rasheed,” Sarath Babu recalls. He was sent to the Durham Cricket Academy in Newcastle at the age of 11. The three-month trip not only improved his batting but also his life skills.

Sarat Babu talks about Rasheed’s unique training. “Rasheed mostly plays on unprepared wickets. These wickets would be uneven. On wickets like this, too, he would practice for an hour every day.”

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Even as Rasheed’s cricket dream was taking wings, the father, who worked at the state bank of India, switched to a private job at Bajaj showroom to allow him to take care of his son. But it didn’t last long.

“I was putting too many leaves at my job, people gave me an ultimatum: if you want to do it, do it properly or leave it, so I left. “I had to take care of Rasheed to take him to matches in Chennai, Vizag and Hyderabad. Rasheed needed me by his side at that age,” Balisha Vali says.

And so he shifted to his hometown Guntur, which was nearly 40 kms from the academy at Mangalgiri. But soon the academy was shifted to Kadapa, and the father had to make a choice. The Kadapa academy had already picked the players like Nitish Kumar Reddy (Sunrisers Hyderabad) and a few other promising youngsters. “If we had sent him to (Kadapa academy), he would be one among 20-30 members, but here Rasheed would get special attention, that was my intention in his staying at Mangalgiri,” says the father.

However, as the school facilities and hostel facilities were also taken off from the academy, the responsibility fell on Balisha Vali to pay for everything and also to transport his son 40 km up and down.

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“I started working as a daily wage employee in a vegetable market, selling vegetables and fruits. I used to make sure I could earn 600-800 every day for a small petty job,” Balisha Vali said.

Shaik Rasheed in England. (Special arrangement) Shaik Rasheed in England. (Special arrangement)

It would be only after Rasheed was selected for the India U-19 World Cup in 2022 as vice-captain and got the prize money for winning the trophy that their financial problems began to ease. “Going into that World Cup, he scored 13 hundreds at state level,” Balisha Vali beams.

In 2023, he was picked by Chennai Super Kings for 20 lakhs. “We were informed by CSK that they will pick him in the auction. We were told that they were following him from the U-16 days. As soon as he won the U-19 World Cup, they picked him. Before CSK, Rasheed’s game was built around defence. After going there, he learnt the attacking game. He introduced me to MS Dhoni in 2023.”

It was then that Dhoni told the father: “Leave Rasheed’s career to us. We like his discipline and game a lot. Leave his career to us, just take care of his fitness and give him good food when he comes home”.

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