Gun young Waratah recruit Yash Pednekar to take a bash at his dream of playing for Australia in Darwin Premier Grade cricket
EXCLUSIVE: He is Waratah’s gun young recruit for 2021 who has already had a taste for captaining Australia at under-16 level.Which means top-order batsman Yash Pednekar has a burning desire to also pull on the baggy-green at Test level.
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HE is Waratah’s gun young recruit for 2021 who has already had a taste for captaining Australia at under-16 level.
Which means top-order batsman Yash Pednekar has a burning desire to also pull on the baggy-green at Test level.
And he believes playing for the Warriors in this year’s Darwin Premier Grade cricket competition will allow him to continue his rapid progression in the sport.
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The 19-year-old makes his Top End debut for the Red Caps against Southern Districts in Round 4 action at Gardens Oval on Saturday.
“I got up here because I wanted to play more cricket non-stop and develop my game,” Pednekar, who scored two second-grade hundreds and a first-grade fifty with Richmond in Melbourne over the 2020-21 summer, told the NT News.
“I planned on coming up last year but that went down because of COVID. So this year knowing Ash (Chandrasinghe) was already playing up here and I know Udara (Weerasinghe), so I messaged him.
“And Udara said ‘no worries’. It’s good to get the opportunity.”
Pednekar captained Australia at under-16 level in a 3-all drawn series with Pakistan, leading his team in the last two games in April 2018, scoring two half-centuries in that series.
“That was an awesome experience and I’m real grateful for it,” he said.
“Some of the players from that team went on to higher honours, like Tanveer Sangha and Jake Fraser-McGurk.
“That (playing senior cricket for Australia) is the ultimate dream. I’ve had training sessions since I was three or four.
“Since then me and my family have invested everything into the sport and from a young age.
“Speaking to Ash, he reckons training and playing up here has put him in a good stead when he goes back to Melbourne.”
Despite being diminutive in stature, Pednekar won’t be fazed taking on the bigger fast bowlers.
“If you look at batsmen throughout the history of cricket, a lot of good batsmen aren’t very big,” he said.
“So that gives you a bit of confidence.”
He also believes assessing match situations as they arise is another strength of his.
“I can probably read the situation well, and I can be the type of batsman who can change gears when needed,” Pednekar said.
Tracy Village hosting Nightcliff and PINT taking on Darwin at Marrara are Saturday’s other Round 4 games.
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