Hrithik Shokeen: Hidden Facts About The MI Star!

Hrithik Rakesh Shokeen commonly known as Hrithik Shokeen is an Indian cricketer who played for India Under 23 team at the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup. In domestic cricket, Hrithik represents the state of Delhi and at the Indian Premier League, the cricketer is part of the Mumbai Indians franchise.

Primarily a right-arm off-break bowler, Hrithik dons the role of a right-handed batsman as well. The cricketer is quite active on social media platforms with a massive 43,000 followers on Instagram and 5,518 followers on Twitter.

Physical Stats

Family

Hrithik Shokeen was born on 14 August 2000 to Rakesh Shokeen and Nisha Shokeen. Rakesh works as a school teacher in Dhulsiras village in Delhi. Hrithik also has a brother by the name of Tanishq and a sister, Kriti who is a doctor.

Education

Hrithik did his schooling at Modern School, Barakhamba Road, Delhi. After completing his 12th standard, the young boy ventured into professional cricket.

Controversies

On 16th April 2023, during the IPL match held between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI), a verbal duel took place between KKR captain Nitish Rana and Hrithik Shokeen who is part of MI. The nasty incident happened at the Wankhede Stadium, in the ninth over of the first innings after Hrithik took the wicket of Nitish.

The batsman was caught at long-on by Ramandeep Singh, MI’s substitute fielder and immediately Hrithik turned back to Nitish to say a few words. Though Nitish also turned back to respond to Hrithik, MI’s stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Piyush Chawla intervened to resolve the issue. Following the incident, Hrithik admitted to the Level 1 Offence under Article 2.5 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct and he was slapped with a fine of 10 percent of his match fee.

It is to be noted that in the domestic circuit, Nitish and Hrithik are teammates in the Delhi team and apparently they are not on talking terms even in the dressing room.

Profession

Back in 2006, Hrithik’s father bought the first cricket bat for his 6-year-old son. It was not a plastic bat, but a season cricket bat. Thus, right from the early days, the small kid started playing with a leather ball and not a tennis ball.

Later, the young Hrithik Shokeen enrolled at the Sonnet Cricket Club in Delhi, run by the late Tarak Sinha. Though he started off as a batsman, it was Tarak who asked the young lad to switch to bowling. The first time Hrithik went to the academy, Tarik asked him to bowl a delivery and on seeing the boy bowl, Tarik asked him to focus on bowling from then on. 

Later, Hrithik got his final touches of off-spin bowling from Maninder Singh, the former Indian international cricketer. At that point in time, Maninder was the selector of the Delhi junior team and back then Hrithik Shokeen was hardly 17 years of age. On seeing the youngster’s bowling, Maninder realized that he had talent in him.

In November 2019, Hrithik got selected for the Indian team’s Under-23 squad for the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup that was held in Bangladesh. Subsequently, on 14th November, the cricketer made his List A debut for India U23 by playing against Nepal in the tournament. 

In the first round of IPL auctions, Hrithik Shokeen went unsold. However, later he was bought by the Mumbai Indians in the auction held for the 2022 IPL tournament. On 21 April 2022, Hrithik played his debut Twenty20 match for the Mumbai Indians.

At the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy held in October 2022, Hrithik became the first tactical substitute – known as “Impact Player”. Two months later, on 20th December 2022, the cricketer made his Ranji trophy debut for Delhi by playing against Assam.

Source Of Income

As per sources, Hrithik’s net worth stands at $50 K. Apart from the income he earns from cricket, Hrithik Shokeen also makes money by endorsing leading brands such as Adidas, Coca-Cola, and Samsung.

Lesser Known Facts About Hrithik Shokeen

• In his early days of cricket training at the academy, Hrithik’s coach made all the kids climb a rope. Unfortunately, Hrithik lost his balance, fell down, and had a blackout. He was taken to hospital immediately as he broke his shoulder and wrist. However, while returning from the hospital, the young Hrithik asked his father whether he could play the next day.

• When the news of Hrithik getting selected for Mumbai Indians at the IPL auctions came out, it was his brother Tanishq who first told the news to their mother. However, his mother reacted by telling him to stop lying. Later, she started crying out of joy.

• When Hrithik met Sachin Tendulkar for the first time, he touched his feet to seek blessings. However, Sachin told him not to do that. Whenever Hrithik bowls on the nets, Sachin Tendulkar gives him advice on how to improve his game.

• During his initial days, It was Hrithik’s mother who used to take her son to cricket practice on her scooter. While being the pillion rider, he used to doze off and Hrithik’s mother used to nudge him to keep him awake.
• Hrithik is a big fan of Rohit Sharma, the Indian international cricketer.

• Though Hrithik wanted to become a batsman, his coach Tarak told him that if he wanted to join his academy, he had to become a bowler. On hearing this, Hrithik was quite upset. However, Hrithik’s father told his son that Tarak was quite good at spotting talent and he picks people who had the Midas touch.

• Hrithik’s mother always used to tell him to have a lot of fun. She also told her son that whatever he does, he must enjoy doing and the cricketer says that he implemented it and owes a lot to her for that.

Read More:

R Ashwin: Meet The Rajasthan Royals’ Spinning Wizard!

Meet Ajinkya Rahane: The Fearless Batsman Of CSK!