Shorye Chopra century steers Hawks to first win
Born in India, raised in Dubai and an UAE representative at a Youth World Cup, Shorye Chopra is starting to blossom as a batsman at Walter Galt Reserve in Mordialloc.
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A single to mid-wicket and there it was, a century for Shorye Chopra.
It was a long time coming for the Kingston Hawthorn batsman.
The stylish right-hander is well regarded in Premier Cricket, but until Saturday he hadn’t taken an innings to three figures.
In his 49th match, Chopra, 22, raised his century against Greenvale Kangaroos to guide the Hawks well down the road to their first victory of the season.
They completed it with two balls to spare, coming in with 7-246 in reply to 8-242.
Chopra’s 101 off 111 deliveries was supported by Prateek Patil’s 34 off 52 balls, Ramneet Dhindsa’s 18 off 18 and Jack Fowler’s 23 off 13 (with two sixes).
In the previous round against Prahran, Chopra looked by some distance Kingston Hawthorn’s best batsman, clipping the ball to all parts of the ground. Then, on 25, he was run out by Adam Bull’s direct hit.
In the innings break a spectator approached Chopra, said he had enjoyed his brief knock and suggested he had the ability to make a lot of runs.
No doubt the onlooker would have been delighted to look up the Premier scorecards on Sunday and see Chopra had cracked 101.
Why hadn’t he made a century earlier?
There had been scores in the 80s and 90s, but the tassel of a ton had eluded him.
Chopra said it came down to two things: a lack of belief and coming to understand the preparation needed to perform consistently at Premier level.
“I have heard it from my coaches before, that I should be scoring more runs,’’ he said.
“There’s an element of self-confidence and self-belief that you need to develop, which I hadn’t done. I think that is changing. I will take confidence from this (the century).
“With the training and the work ethic, they were reasonable, but not at that quality of a First XI cricketer. I understand now the need for consistent and meaningful practice.’’
Chopra was born in India, raised in Dubai and represented the UAE in the 2014 Under 19 World Cup.
Wanting to develop his studies and cricket, he relocated to Melbourne in 2014 and joined Melbourne Uni.
A move to Kingston Hawthorn came in 2016-17 (during the season he was also announced as the Melbourne Stars’ community rookie player).
Chopra remarked that cricket was a “great leveller’’, and in Sunday’s one-dayer against Ringwood the Hawks took a heavy loss. Chopra, playing his 50th match, made 10 and the team was dismissed for 149 after being pasted for 3-310.
HAWKS LOOK FOR GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT
NEW COACH FOR KINGSTON HAWTHORN
At least the young Hawks’ batsmen got to watch a champion of the competition, David King, make his 17th century for the Rams, in the process passing 8500 runs.
The Hawks have a new coach this season in Ben Williams, and Chopra is a fan.
“I’m not going to single out any coach — every coach has had great input in my cricket, my skills and how I approach the game — but the one great thing about Ben is his ability to infuse self-belief and positive vibes into every single player at the club,’’ he said.
“He pushes you to push yourself.’’