Indian, Randwick Petersham cricketer Puru Gaur dreams of big career in Australia
This young student came to Australia for a two week holiday in a NSW country town. Now, after a bizarre set of circumstances, he is dreaming of playing cricket for both NSW and Australia.
Southern Courier
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When Puru Gaur came from India to visit his uncle in Scone for a two week holiday he never imagined for a second he would still be here 17 months later.
A chance conversation at a Kingsgrove Sports shop in Newcastle while buying shoes back in August 2019 has parlayed into Gaur playing his second season of cricket in Australia while studying online.
It has seen him play a season in Newcastle before being recruited to Sydney by Randwick Petersham, a club he now represents in both Premier Cricket and the Poidevin-Gray Shield for under 21 cricketers.
“It’s all been a happy coincidence,’’ said Gaur, who lived with his uncle in Scone before moving to Botany to play in NSW Premier Cricket, study and work for a landscape management company.
“I had no plans to stay in Australia. I had a ticket booked back home.
“It was too good an opportunity to miss. I went to a trial, they chose me to play the season and I was the highest run scorer for Newcastle and made team of the year.
“They saw this and Randwick recruited me.’’
The young cricket lover and law student is hoping to become a resident in the future and is dreaming big when it comes to cricket.
“I want to play professional cricket.’’ said Gaur, who has not been able to travel back to India to visit his family since his arrival in Australia.
“I’d love to play Sheffield Shield, the Big Bash, maybe even for Australia one day,’’ said the big-hitting young gun who played state cricketer for Uttar Pradesh and was with the Wonders Club in Delhi.
“I love everything in cricket. Everything about cricket.
Gaur has been proving his worth to Randwick Petersham all season and on Saturday fell just short of scoring his first century in Premier Cricket - left on 92 not out.
He is also the leading scorer in Poidevin-Gray with 281 runs at 56.20. He has scored one century (115) and two half-centuries (76, 53).
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