It was in 1990 that wrestler Darshan Lal was made the coach of the Indian wrestling team for the World Cadet Wrestling Championship in Hungary. And when four Indian lads won medals at the event, Darshan already had a dream: that of his son, then a toddler, becoming a famous wrestler when he grew up.

And considering the fact that wrestling was in his blood — Darshan’s father and brother were famous wrestlers too — it was the most obvious career choice for the toddler.

Cut to 2009. The son plays cricket now, and is pretty promising at that. So much so that Amit Prashar has now become the first batsman ever to score two double-hundreds in the same year in the Punjab Inter-District Katoch Shield Tournament.

For the record, the 20-year-old scored a staggering 691 runs, averaging 136 in the competition, which ended just a few days ago. A call up to the Punjab Ranji camp was a mere formality after that.

His father’s “wrestling dream” can take a walk now. “I was quite adamant on making Amit a wrestler. I would take him to our family akhara that my father runs in Shahbad. He liked to take part in wrestling bouts but always wanted to play cricket,” Darshan says with not the slightest hint of regret in his voice.

“I liked wrestling in akharas, it gave me the strength I needed in my forearms as a batsman,” Amit says. “But having come this far in cricket, how can I go back to wrestling now?”

... contd.