Agni Chopra's dream: Playing Ranji Elite division after big start with Mizoram in Plate League
Currently, Agni Chopra's First-Class average stands at a box office 99.06 and it has attracted as much, may be even more, attention as some of the biggest Bollywood chartbusters his father has produced.
In only nine games since his debut in the Ranji Trophy Plate league for Mizoram earlier this year, Agni, son of Bollywood filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra and film critic Anupama Chopra, has garnered 1585 runs with eight hundreds and four fifties.
The beginning of this filmy sequence started in January this year when he debuted with a 166 against Sikkim at Nadiad, and from there on Agni has not stopped scoring runs in tons, literally.
This season the 26-year-old left-hander has started from where he left and has already scored 218 and 238 against Arunachal and Manipur.
So, what is the secret of his run rush?
“It's all about hunger, right?” Agni told PTI in an exclusive interview.
“Before this season started, I discussed it with my coach Khushpreet (Singh). The only thing he told me was, ‘forget about the runs, you just have to focus on one thing — don't get out'.”
“So I've not thought about anything else. My second goal was to score double hundreds because last year I didn't score a single double hundred,” said Agni, adding that specific work on his fitness has also helped him pile up big scores.
His domination of bowlers, which has seen his average touching Bradmanesque-levels, has come in the Plate League so far, and Agni nourishes the dream of getting into Elite League with Mizoram.
“I don't think too far into the future. Of course, in terms of the larger picture, I would love to be picked in the Duleep Trophy, or India A, to play in the IPL, to hopefully, one day, represent India,” he said.
“For me what works best is (when) I always focus on the next game. I don't even think about the second game. I only think about what's next because in order to play for India, I have to do well in the next game.”
But for it, Agni knows that, he will have to play in the Elite segment of the Ranji Trophy.
“I would love to represent an Elite division team, then maybe play for IPL and India. But to do those things, I have to play well at the level I'm playing right now and to do that, I also have to score runs in the next game. So, I genuinely think about only the next game,” he said.
Agni realises that he has to shoulder a major share of responsibility of carrying Mizoram into the Elite round.
“Our Mizoram team's collective goal is to qualify for the Elite division. The goal is for us to finish on top and qualify... then I'll be able to play in the Elite division against the top level of bowlers,” he said.
“Even last year, that was our goal but unfortunately, we fell short. We lost in the semifinals; we were one game away. If we had won, we would have qualified and I would have been playing there this year itself,” he continued.
“That's what I think my personal and team-wise goal is.”
For cricketers, on-field success and scrutiny go hand in hand and more so in case of those who have famous parents.
Agni has a simple way of tackling the situation.
"I just think it is funny. I genuinely don't even take it seriously. There is my circle of people whose opinions I value and whose opinions I trust," he said.
"Off the field, (it) is my parents and my sister. Anything related to off the field, I'll defer to them. They don't give me advice about cricket too much. I mean, I don't tell my dad how to make movies and he doesn't tell me how to play cricket,” he said.
“Khushpreet Singh, my coach, is my number one guy on and off the field. Shubman (Gill) is a close friend and with him, also on the field and off the field, we have discussions,” he said.
Agni had to endure disappointment during last year's IPL auction, but he hopes for better tidings in the upcoming mega auction.
“Everybody wants to be a part of that, play in the IPL. A lot of the work that I have put in is with that in mind as well and that's a big motivating factor is to play in the IPL,” said Agni, who idolises Yuvraj Singh and Brian Lara.
