With 1,270 runs in nine games, including five centuries, one triple hundred and a double against Mumbai, he has made everyone sit up and notice his form.
Gujarat's Priyank Panchal once used to be an average cricketer, but not any more. His extra-ordinary performances this Ranji Trophy season has made him rise above any such tag.
With 1,270 runs in nine games, including five centuries, one triple hundred and a double against Mumbai, he has made everyone sit up and notice his form.
The 26-year-old Ahmedabad-born opening batsman was the topic of discussion ahead of the Ranji Trophy final between defending champions Mumbai and Gujarat to be played at the Holkar Stadium in Indore from Tuesday.
Panchal may not have the x-factor that many look for, but he feels he has got the performances to show.
"I have been scoring 500-600 runs in the last two seasons, but nothing happened. Everyone was doing the same. I knew I could be an average cricketer, but what was the use. I thought if I do something extraordinary, like scoring big hundreds, only then will I be able to get attention," he said on the eve of the final.
For Panchal, it wasn't that he got up one day and produced extraordinary performances. "If I had to score extraordinarily, I had to do extraordinary practice sessions. I would practice hours and hours, session by session like how it is playing in first class cricket. I would bat for two hours 30 minutes in the first session and then another two hours in the second," he said.
"Basically, I would treat my net sessions as simulation of match situation and keep the bowlers changing every half an hour. All the hard work I did for two three months have finally borne fruit, he added.
The opener isn't thinking about his runs though. "Yes, it is a dream season, but that is past now. My main focus is Ranji Trophy. I want to live in the present and give 100 per cent against a team like Mumbai," he said.
Dwelling on the process of getting big hundreds, Panchal said: "I worked on my conversion rates. I had been scoring 100s and 130s but was never satisfied. I began to set my mind on starting from the scratch after reaching every milestone. If I was on 150, I would think about how to be there at 230 and then after that 350. I would write them in my diary and keep reminding myself," he said.
If not cricket, Panchal spends time reading autobiographies of sportsmen or business leaders like Steve Jobs.
"They inspire me a lot. Writing is also one of my hobbies. It is not restricted to cricket, but my daily responsibilities towards my life, mother and sister. Then it's cricket and what I have to do for my team," he added.
Panchal says he hopes his late father Kirit bhai must be smiling in the heavens with the performances that he has put forth this season.
"I hope he is. He wanted me to play for India and I want to realise that dream for him. Not just him, but my mother too," he said.
Panchal's season
17 vs Baroda
18 & 101 vs Railways
60 & 35 vs Uttar Pradesh
62 & 29 vs Madhya Pradesh
232 & 56* vs Mumbai
314* vs Punjab
113 vs Tamil Nadu
2 & 81 vs Odisha (QF)
149 & 1 vs Jharkhand (SF)
1,270
Number of runs, Priyank Panchal has scored this season for Gujarat with five hundreds and four Fifties
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 "Priyank Panchal")
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