Teja Nidamanur's glorious journey from Vijayawada to Amsterdam in pursuit of cricket

The Netherlands cricket team will feature a player with Indian roots named Teja Nidamanur, who has gone through an interesting journey of turning out to be a professional cricketer after going through hardships.

Hyderabad:Going through the lineup of the Netherlands cricket team, no one will find anything unusual, till they arrive at one name. Teja Nidamanur is the name of the Telugu boy, who has roots in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh and is playing for the Netherlands at the national level. His tale of twists and turns saw him being born in Vijayawada, growing up in New Zealand and playing a key role in the Dutch side.

Teja was separated from his father at a very young age and his mother took him to Auckland. She used to work as a dialysis technician and educated her son in the country. But, by the time, Teja completed his schooling, his mother returned to Vijayawada when he was 16-years-old. He then studied on his own and stayed in a rented room and did part-time jobs in New Zealand.

Along with completing a degree in sports management and marketing, he also made tremendous progress as a professional cricketer. He also pursued his interest area by playing List A cricket in New Zealand. The cricketer kept putting in his effort to make it big in New Zealand cricket but was not able to rise to become a prominent cricket and failed to get a board contract. After a continuous series of efforts, he found an opportunity to play a club tournament in the Netherlands and didn't hesitate in capitalising on it.

Initially, Nidamanur was planning to play a few matches in the Netherlands and go back home. But one of the persons in the playing group was the CEO of a company and it paved the way for the all-rounder to settle in the Netherlands. After getting a job in Amsterdam, he started playing for local cricket clubs. He also made it to the national team gradually while working at the same time.

The all-rounder was handed a central contract considering his performances and also made it to the management job. Teja says that life is going on smoothly, even if the economy is not at a great level

Showing doors to the West Indies

Teja played a key role in the West Indies not qualifying for the World Cup scoring 111 runs from 76 balls in the fixture against the Caribbean side. The match was tied as a result and the Netherlands won in the Super Over. His place in the team was established as a result of his knock and the all-rounder will now play a key role with the bat as well as ball for the Dutch side.