What's in a name?

“What’s in a name?” asked William Shakespeare famously, in his excellent tragedy Romeo and Juliet. 

Siddharth Sirish Desai has been the find of the Pro Kabaddi League this season. Despite not having played in the PKL earlier, the 26-year old Kolhapur native was by no means an unheralded player. He was bought at the auctions for a fairly high amount of ₹36.4 lakhs – which is more than what Jang Kun Lee, the star South Korean export or Kashiling Adake, the best raider from Season 2, managed to fetch at the auctions – and he has not let the team down. In 7 matches this season, he has already secured 100 raid points, at an impressive raid strike rate of 78%, which is more than 95% of all other raiders with at least 20 raids this season.

Siddharth Ajaybhai Desai is a bright young prospect for Indian cricket. The 18-year old from Ahmedabad made headlines last month when he was the leading wicket-taker in the 2018 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup held in Bangladesh last month. He scalped a whopping 18 wickets in 5 matches! In the first match of the 2018-19 Ranji trophy season, he took 5 wickets in the first innings against the formidable Baroda team, which included the wickets of the talented Deepak Hooda and the experienced Pinal Shah. 

“What’s in a name?” you might ask. Well, if you happen to be someone named Siddharth Desai, there is a lot to be happy about!