Cricket World Cup: MS Dhoni six, Kohli carrying Tendulkar on his shoulders – The moments that shaped Netherlands’ Aryan Dutt’s cricketing journey | Cricket-world-cup News

Rakesh Dutt couldn’t travel to Dharamsala because his wife Madhu injured her right knee. But watching his son Aryan hit those three sixes off Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Gerald Coetzee at their Delhi home on television brought back a lot of memories.For the Dutts, it all started in Delhi. Twelve years ago, Aryan would tell his father for the first time that he wanted to play cricket.
“The moment MS Dhoni hit that six against Nuwan Kulasekara in the World Cup final, he (Aryan) just hugged me, cried and asked, ‘Dad, can I play cricket?’ A few moments later, the voice was firmer when Virat Kohli was carrying Sachin Tendulkar on his shoulders. He asked, ‘Can I get a bat?’” Rakesh recalls for The Indian Express.
The next day, Dutt, who has studied in Delhi Cantonment and has played cricket in the capital, brought a kit for his eight-year-old son. The journey started but it was difficult to follow that dream at Den Haag in the Netherlands, where they were based.
“Cricket in the Netherlands was never a big thing, especially where we used to live. There was a basketball court, where I started giving him under-downs. It started there and then one fine day, Tim de Leede (father of Bas de Leede and a former Netherlands cricketer) saw us and asked me to bring Aryan to the academy of Voorburg Cricket Club,” he recalls.
Aryan Dutt with Amit Uniyal. (Special Arrangement)
It is not easy to be a professional cricketer in a country obsessed with football, with a cricket season running from March to September. From 2015, Aryan with his friend Vikramjit Singh, the opener in the current Dutch team, started coming to Chandigarh and spent six months every year till 2019-20 at former Punjab pacer Amit Uniyal’s Gurusagar Cricket Academy.
Uniyal, who was in Dharamsala on Tuesday, recalls the first time he saw a lanky 12-year-old. “He was pretty tall for his age. What intrigued me was his hitting ability. When I saw him the other day hitting those long sixes, it started giving me flashbacks.”
“I had my doubts first. Will he be able to train twice a day? Will he be able to get along with the local lads? But he surprised me. I used to do three sessions with him and he never ever complained. He used to stay at my house and became a part of my family,” recalls Uniyal.
One of the big problems for Aryan in those years was his height and shoes. Every four months, he needed bigger shoes. “I can’t exactly recall what the year was but when he was in Chandigarh, his shoe size increased in one month. It was difficult to get new ones, and it was one of the reasons he started bowling off-spin, because he couldn’t run due to the pain. His feet have given me nightmares,” laughs Dutt.
Before the start of the World Cup, in an interview with this newspaper, Aryan had admitted that he started bowling spin after he suffered a few injuries due to undersized shoes.
“I started taking spin seriously pretty late. All credit should go to my shoes,” he had said.
Watching the best
For the Netherlands, Aryan bowls generally in the Powerplay and has learnt spin bowling after watching videos of Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin and Nathan Lyon.
“I am a big MS Dhoni and CSK (Chennai Super Kings) fan. In the beginning, I started following R Aswhin because he used to play for CSK. Then I started looking up to Nathan Lyon as well. I have watched a lot of Harbhajan Singh videos too. But at present, I follow Sri Lanka’s Maheesh Theekshana. Again because he plays for CSK,” said the 20-year-old.
On Saturday, Aryan will be playing against Theekshana in Lucknow when the Netherlands take on Sri Lanka.
With time, Aryan’s bowling has improved, courtesy his father, who is his bowling coach and analyst and prints out a plan for him before every match.
“Ahead of every Netherlands match, I watch videos of opposition batsmen. I give him inputs on what to bowl, and where to bowl. The strengths and weaknesses according to whatever idea I have of cricket. I am living my dream through him, so this is the least I could do,” says Aryan’s father.
During his U-17 days, Ryan Campbell, former Netherlands coach, who is now with Durham, had called Aryan an exceptional talent.
“Look out for Aryan Dutt. I expect him to thrive because he can hit the ball a long way. I really hope to see some of that in the future,” Campbell had said on ‘The Emerging Cricket Podcast.’Most Read
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Uniyal showers praise on Aryan’s discipline, which Rakesh Dutt says his son got from his late grandfather Baldev Dutt, a Major in the Indian Army.

“He is the replica of my dad. Same height (6’3), athletic body. My father used to play volleyball. The discipline is expected because we are from an Army background. He is competitive and wants to do well. These are the values that one learns growing in an army family. I got it from my father, and I have passed it on to Aryan,” says Dutt Sr, whose roots are in Hoshiarpur, Punjab.
Life has come full circle for the Dutts. Twelve years ago, it was he who rejoiced with his son after India won the World Cup, and now, it is Aryan who wipes Rakesh’s tears, saying “This is what we wanted, Dad. Who would have thought!”