299 against Andhra, 146 against Jammu & Kashmir last season. Now, unbeaten on 122 against Delhi — such are Sudip Gharami’s last three Ranji Trophy scores. 567 runs in all, with a 146 in the Duleep Trophy quarter-final thrown in for good measure. Figures to satisfy even the most exacting of cricketers.Not Gharami, though. The standard he has set himself is so high that the briefest of lean patches — of merely three matches — was enough to rekindle his need to prove himself.“I worked tirelessly during the off-season. I manifested starting the season with a century in the first Duleep Trophy match. I managed to do that, but after that, things didn’t go well,” he tells The Indian Express from Kalyani, where Bengal are playing their red-ball opener.“There was only one thing running in my mind before this match — that, I have to prove myself in the first innings itself. I had to show everyone that main kisise kam nahin (I am second to none).”The impulse to prove his worth is hardly new. Gharami has spent the better part of two decades answering those who doubted him, since the days when people told his father his son would never make a professional cricketer — not for want of talent, but for want of means.“My father used to work as a mason,” says Gharami. “When I started playing cricket, we did not have enough money to buy bats and other cricket equipment. My father had to take loans from his friends to buy me kits. At the time, people used to tell him ‘Have you lost your mind? How will a mason’s son become a cricketer? Bete ke upar faaltu ka paisa kharch kar raha hai (You are wasting money on your son). Just give him some education so that he can get a regular job and make ends meet’.”With every taunt, the resolve of Sushanta Gharami was forged a little harder.Story continues below this ad“We did not even have a pukka house at the time. We used to live in a kuccha house. It was only when I played the Under-19 level that I bought a brick and mortar house for my family. So, you can tell how difficult it was. Everyone discouraged my father, but he was determined to make me a cricketer. Unko ek zid chadh gaya tha (he was determined). Actually, he was really passionate about cricket as well, but given the financial restraints, he never had the means to pursue the sport. So, he wanted his son to do what he could not. He would take me to the academy early in the morning every day, and wait there till I was done. Then in the evenings, we would go together to a ground behind our house, where my father used to throw balls at me. At night, I did shadow drills at the house, under his watchful eyes. He dedicated everything to make me.”The previous Ranji Trophy season saw him scoring 797 runs at 53.77 — highest for Bengal, and fourth-highest overall. Yet, it did not stop him from probing for flaws and mending them.“I was facing a few issues, such as my bat lift drifting outward. During the off-season, I worked specifically on my grip, stance, and bat lift. Since I am currently part of the BCCI’s targeted players group, I got to work with coaches at the Centre of Excellence. Before the Duleep Trophy, I spent around two weeks at a camp in Bangalore, which helped improve my batting.”The Irani Cup might not have matched his personal expectations — scores of 8 & 33 — but Gharami considers it to be a useful learning curve.Story continues below this ad“I got to speak with Sarfaraz (Khan) bhai. He gave me a simple advice: ‘Har din start nahin milega, but jis din milega, us din lamba khelna hai. (not everyday will you get a start, but when you do, make sure you play long). It was a very valuable advice. Today, I was up against a very strong pace attack of Delhi, but I was determined that once I am set on the crease, I will make it big.”With Duleep and Irani behind him, another prolific Ranji campaign could open fresh avenues for Gharami, avenues that lead towards the Indian dressing room. The 27-year-old knows it, but his focus rests on being Bengal’s crisis man.“My goal is to take things match by match. Whenever my team needs me, I want to step up and deliver. For many years, Anustup Majumdar was the crisis man of Bengal. Whenever the team was in trouble, Anustup da stepped up. I have learned a lot from him about how to handle crunch situations.”Gharami was also a regular feature for Bengal in white-ball tournaments last season, scoring a couple of half-centuries in the Vijay Hazare trophy. His love for the red leather, though, remains unrivalled.Story continues below this ad“My inspiration has always been Sachin Tendulkar — the kind of knocks he played in Test cricket. Moreover, my childhood coach, Debesh Chakraborty is a huge Sunil Gavaskar fan, and instilled in me at a very young age that red-ball cricket is ultimate cricket.”