'I returned crying, came home, and shaved my head' - Rising KKR star shares his heartbreaking story

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) may have their playoffs hopes hanging by a thread in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), but the two-time champions haven't been short of positives on the field. 

Despite their inconsistency as a playing unit, with just five wins from twelve league games in IPL 2023, KKR have found multiple young Indian performers to feel assured of their future years. 

Among them is wristspinner Suyash Sharma, who is a direct byproduct of KKR's regularly functioning scouting set-up and analytical team, which spotted the 19-year-old out of the blue and unleashed him with success onto the opposition line-ups this summer. 

Sharma made an instant impression in the world's premier domestic T20 competition with three wickets against a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on his IPL debut. He has since taken 10 wickets in his nine innings of the tournament at a reasonably good economy rate of 8.0 in a high-scoring season. 

The journey and struggles of KKR's Suyash Sharma 

In an interview on IPLT20.com, however, Suyash Sharma revealed there was a chance he may not have made his debut for the two-time winners as he was once left shattered upon facing rejection in an U-19 trial. The cricketer was so distraught he ended up crying and even shaved his head in utter frustration. 

That, as it turned out, became an interesting backstory to Sharma's popular hairstyle. With time, as the cricketer's fortunes transformed with KKR, he decided to keep his long hair on and has garnered fame with it among youngsters watching the IPL. 

"Last year I gave trials for U-19 and performed well," Suyash said. "I wasn’t selected and then between 12:30 am and 1 am, they put out a list but I was asleep. I got up around 3 and kept crying for two hours. I was told they want to see me bowl once. I went there but was told they won’t entertain me."

"I returned crying, came home and shaved my head. I was quite disappointed. Couldn’t believe despite doing well, this was happening to me," he added. 

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Not even featuring in a professional cricketing assignment before, Sharma had his life changed when KKR came calling his way and gave him an opportunity to prove his mettle in front of a global audience. 

"I vowed to work on my skills so much so that one day, they will call me up themselves. And then slowly hair started growing back, and performances also improved so I decided to let them be. The hairstyle suited me and hence the long hair," he added.