If you wake up at 6 am in Kota, you are likely to see busy roads jammed with students. Even on Sundays, these students would be racing to academies-mostly the famous Vibrant Academy-to study courses to get into colleges like IIT. There are exceptions, of course. Now, don’t get me started about the game-be it playing or watching-because not many does that. You know, studies.
Lomror hails from Nagaur, a village near Kota in Rajasthan. Unlike other families, Lamror’s family enjoyed cricket. Right from his Grandmother, everyone sees the game, but choosing it as a career wasn’t a choice, of course, where will they even find a ground for training?
Nagaur had only one ground which wasn’t completely suitable for the game, one practice net and literally one coach, Prajapath.
Lomror was mostly alone because most kids wouldn’t join him. As they feared their parents who didn’t want them to waste time by playing. They wanted their kids to focus on their studies.
He was eight when he first picked up the bat, and for the next two years, there was casual practice because he knew the training the game professionally wasn’t feasible in his place.
Since his love for the game kept growing, and since he did practice, the coach Prajapath suggested him to move to Jaipur to begin professional training.
His parents were reluctant at first. When he was eleven, the family understood that he was super crazy about the game, and so they moved to Jaipur. Lomror’s father and grandmother moved along with him, and there began his official training.
For the next few years, everyone’s favourite Rishabh Pant and Lomror became closest friends on and off the field. They broke records in the age-group cricket between U-12 and U-14, were almost inseparable. Things then changed as Pant moved to Delhi, and Lomror stayed here.
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Lomror was complete top-order batter who bowled a bit then. In 2011, when one of the best coaches in India, Chandrakant Pandit, watched him play in the Under-14 Varroc Shield in Mumbai. He went on to call him as “Junior Gayle” after watching him score 250 runs in the final. The nickname stayed with him though he soon became a lower middle-order batter who can bowl well.
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While he was doing great at the domestic level, his family back home was insecure about his future, and they were unsure, even when he got into the Under-19 team for India. However, one name brought them a bit of belief, it was Rahul Dravid. The family have seen him on the television a few times, and it convinced them that their son was on the right path.
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Lomror showed his skills in the Youth ODI tri-series against England and Sri Lanka right before the Under-19 World Cup 2016. He had four wickets and 54 runs from the limited opportunity he got. Then he made it to the Under-19 World Cup 2016. India ended up as the runners-up in that year. Lomror ended with 133 runs from his five innings with a strike-rate over 100 and also had seven wickets.
His best performance came against New Zealand where he came when India was losing at 165 for 5 in the 37th over. Along with Armaan Jaffer, he added 55 runs then added a few runs with the tail to take the team past 250. He then came back to pick five wickets in the match.
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Lomror made a mark in 2016 and it didn’t go in vain as he was picked up by Delhi in the IPL, he also made his first-class debut for Rajasthan. In 2017, he became a regular for Rajasthan domestic side.
A year later, in 2018, Rajasthan Royals bought him in the auction. In that same year, he was appointed as the captain for Ranji Trophy side. The next year, he became the captain for the List-A side as well. All these when he was just a teenager.
Be it Ranji Trophy, List-A or even IPL, Lomror’s role is to go berserk whenever it’s needed but also to perform the rescue act. The knock against Bangalore where he got 47 and dragged his team to 150+ score is just a sample of what this youngster is capable of. There is so much left in him, and this IPL, hopefully, will just be the beginning for all the big things for him.
Pic Courtesy: IPL 2020
