The failed-cricketer-turned-javelin-thrower won today the Indian leg of the ‘Million Dollar Arm’ baseball contest, an American initiative to tap the cricket crazy-continent to tide over a dearth of quality pitchers, and that’s when the organisers asked Rinku about his bankers.

With none of the 26 finalists able to match Rinku’s 87 mph effort, the Bhadohi boy’s life took an unexpected turn. In a month’s time, Rinku will move to San Francisco where top pros will iron out the flaws in his raw pitching technique for about a year. This will be followed by Rinku, along with other regional winners of the global contest, being showcased before representatives of 30 major league baseball teams who might want to sign the rookie.

J B Bernstein, the agent and managing director of Seven Figures Management, the co-organiser of the talent hunt, has a smile on his face when he says that Rinku has taken an elevator in life. “I have been holding such events across the globe but have never come across a winner who doesn’t have a bank account. But I tell you, if this kid works hard he might need more than one account to manage his money,” he says.

But Rinku isn’t looking too far ahead nor is he already dreaming the American dream. “The only plan I have right now is to gift a car to my father. All his life he has been on the highway to take care of me and three brothers and three sisters. He has undergone lots of hardship, he now needs some comfort,” says the teenager.

Rinku calls himself an all-round sportsman who was concentrating on athletics at the Lucknow Sports Hostel. “I met Suresh Raina and RP Singh there and they asked me to take up bowling. But since I could never quite straighten my arm I took to hurling the javelin,” says the boy who just a few months ago came to know that a powerful throw with a bent arm can be a big asset in this alien sport called baseball.

Ken Huth, the baseball coach linked with the event, speaks highly of Rinku the pitcher. “He showed a great determination in learning, otherwise it is very hard for a javelin thrower to be able to throw at such a speed,” says the 48-year-old. “I just advised him to bend his knee while he was standing in an upright position. He picked it up quite fast,” said Huth.

On the eve of the event’s finals, Rinku knew that he had a chance to win. “I had a sleepless night since I was wondering how to celebrate in case I win,” he said. But when the moment came, Rinku was stunned. He didn’t have an answer to the question the organisers posed: “In which bank do we transfer the $100,000 cheque?”