Twentytwo-year-old Nakketla Jyothi Sai Krishna, who graduated to construct concrete structures, has proved to the world that he is adept at building an innings in cricket also.
This civil engineer from V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College from Vijayawada, after his heartening show in the Andhra Cricket Association senior inter-zonal selection tournament for the Ranji Trophy team, has proved to his critics that he cannot be ignored for this domestic season.
The middle-order batsman scored two back-to-back hundreds (115, 100) and 58 at Anantapur thus finishing next to the highest run-getter - D.B. Prasanth Kumar.
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Last year, Jyothi made it to the Ranji Trophy probable list and was selected as the first standby for the one-dayers. Trained under N. Nirmal Kumar, a BCCI level ‘B’ coach, Jyothi, who began his cricket journey at the age of nine, went on to represent Andhra in under-15, 17, 22, 25 teams and Acharya Nagarjuna University in the all-India inter-university tournaments for three years.
Jyothi, who was part of Andhra ‘A’ team that toured Kenya in August 2011, fondly recollected his experience. “This trip did a lot of good to me as I was exposed to different playing conditions. Most of the players of the Kenya ‘A” team were from the senior side,” he pointed out. He was also the member of the Andhra team that lifted the Vizzy Trophy in 2010-2011. Andhra which begins its campaign in November is projecting a new look with a coach from New Zealand. Auckland chief coach Kaushik Patel is already in Anantapur assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the players. Andhra is keen to do well this season as it will be playing seven league matches before qualifying for the knockout.