Chennai's cricketer-turned-techie makes his way into German team

Until 2006, he played with and against the likes of R Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay and L Balaji at the junior level and in TNCA first division league, but

Venkatraman Ganesan will now represent Germany, where he moved in 2012 after becoming an IT professional, in the ICC Division One European Championship in the Netherlands from June 11. "I never expected this. I'm happy and excited. I had to quit cricket due to family circumstances in 2006. But now I'm part of a national team and my family has been a pillar of strength. It's not easy being a non-professional cricketer and trying to making it to top. I have a daughter and a settled life here. Because of their support, I have been able to do the balancing act of an IT employee and a cricketer as well," Venkatraman told TOI from the Netherlands on Tuesday.

In football-mad Germany, the left-hand opening batsman was pleasantly surprised to find a cricketing structure. "I searched Germany cricket on the web and I found there were a few clubs playing 50-over and T20 cricket. Two years back, I realized there could be a cricketing future in Germany. I motivated myself and worked hard on fitness. I first represented a club in Mannheim city and then when I moved to Dusseldorf, I played for Dusseldorf Blackcaps Cricket Club.

"I did well for my state team Western Eagles and then scored a hundred in a nation al camp practice match in 2016 to make a name for myself," adds the 32-year-old, who represented SBI and Mambalam Mosquitos in the TNCA first division league in 2004-06. Venkatraman is "not a citizen" of Germany , but the ICC rules permitting a player to represent a country if he has been residing there for a minimum of four years have come in handy.

Quite a few from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Australia and South Africa help spread the game in Germany, he says, adding that the captain is an Indian, Rishi Pillai. "... If we win this tournament, which includes Austria, France, Belgium, Sweden and Norway, we will qualify for World Cricket League division 5. Our coach Steven Knox, a former Scotland cricketer, has been helping us a lot with his inputs," he adds.

The biggest challenge, Venkatraman feels, will be in adjusting to the turf wickets in ICC tournaments. "We only play on astroturf pitches here. But once we go out, we have to play on proper turf wickets. That's a big challenge. It is always cold and rainy here. The outfields are generally heavy and we have to mostly play lofted shots to score runs. It's difficult to rotate strike. But the cricketers are fit and quite a few naturally gifted pacers. There is passion..," he said.

The game, he says, is slowly being spread throughout Western Europe through German Cricket TV . "They have started capturing all the state matches and a lot of people watch cricket in social media as a result... A lot of us are trying our best to develop club cricket by finding sponsors and in creating good net facilities," he added.