By IANS
Meerut : Holi festivities began early for Praveen Kumar’s family as Meerut celebrated their son’s fabulous performance and he emerged the new star of cricket-mad India. He brought about the downfall of Australia in the tri-series finals with his incisive fast bowling.
Praveen was adjudged the man-of-the-match, for the second time in the series, returning figures of 4 for 46 as he single-handedly knocked off the famed Australian top-order at the Gabba Tuesday.
There were celebrations in every nook and corner of the country, but in Meerut every lane lead to Praveen’s home. After, all he has made his city proud.
“We are really happy with what he has achieved. It was Holi for us today,” Praveen’s mother Murti Devi told IANS.
“We are just waiting for him to arrive and then we will have more celebrations,” she said.
Praveen’s family had a tough time controlling the crowd that had come to share their joy along with the family.
“We were flooded with people. All the neighbors came to our place and watched the match at our home. We are a joint family and we switched all the four television set,” she said.
It was a day to remember for them as every member of Praveen’s family was in the must-wanted list of media.
“We have never faced anything like this before. There were so many people calling and congratulating, asking for comments,” she said.
Born in a family of wrestlers, Praveen had to ward off pressure from his people not to play cricket, but today the 21-year-old proved his decision was right.
“We have wrestlers in our family, but Praveen always followed cricket. He was so determined to playing for India. We hope he continues to play well for the country.”