The scorecard cannot show who kept him going
When Ankur Panwar talks about the people behind his cricket, the conversation moves away from wickets. It reaches his sister, the equipment she helped him buy and the calls he made when living away from home became difficult. She offered financial help, but also something harder to measure: reassurance when he doubted whether the journey would work.
In his interview with Cric Insights, the Saurashtra fast bowler returns repeatedly to the people who made practice possible. His Vijay Hazare performances gave viewers a reason to learn his name. His account of family and mentorship explains the years before those performances brought attention.
He does not turn the struggle into a claim that success was inevitable. There were periods of uncertainty, a change of state and lessons learned when his bowling did not deliver what he or his team expected. Continuing was a decision he had to make through those stages.
A farmer’s son who began behind the stumps
Ankur grew up near Meerut. His father farmed and wanted him to study, with becoming a mathematics teacher among the hopes Ankur remembers. Cricket pulled him in another direction. He speaks candidly about his difficulty committing to school and about recognising how hard his father worked for the family’s money.
The story is a personal recollection, not advice to young players to abandon education. What stands out is the tension of choosing a path whose result he could not promise. His family’s support, especially his sisters’ help, became essential to making that choice practical.
Fast bowling itself had not been the original plan. He started as a batter and wicketkeeper. During his Under-14 years, coach Balram Saxena asked him to bowl. A different role began there, long before he would be discussing new-ball plans and death-over variations.
Leaving Meerut, finding a home in Saurashtra
After disappointment over selection in Uttar Pradesh, a sister studying in Ahmedabad suggested he come there and try an academy. He did not make the move immediately. When he eventually travelled, a connection through cricket led him towards Surendranagar and mentor Jagdish Dhameja.
Ankur describes Dhameja’s help in deeply personal terms. He was given a place to stay, practical and financial support, and reminders to get up for practice. He remembers being introduced to other people as the mentor’s son. Those gestures gave the move something more durable than a training address.
Age-group opportunities followed in Saurashtra, though every stage did not produce an immediate place. Ankur recalls being on standby at one level before moving through older age groups. The route into senior cricket was a progression, not a single trial that solved everything.
Why pace was only part of the lesson
Ankur remembers initially thinking too much about effort and bowling hard. Senior cricket made him confront the limits of that approach. Jaydev Unadkat emphasised skill: pace alone would not create the plan required to dismiss a good batter.
At Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he joined as a net bowler in 2023, the exposure reinforced that message. He credits Samarth Vyas with speaking to the management about him after age-group performances. Working in that environment brought conversations with Dale Steyn about variations, clarity and choosing the right delivery under pressure.
This was a net-bowling opportunity, not an IPL playing contract. He also discusses attending Delhi Capitals trials later. Neither experience should be rewritten as a confirmed franchise signing. Their value in his story is what he learned and what he still wanted to earn.
A plan for Aman, not a search for a miracle ball
In the Vijay Hazare final against Vidarbha, Ankur’s explanation of the contest with Aman Mokhade is strikingly specific. He wanted to keep the ball close enough to deny the cut shot room, repeat a good area and resist trying something extra just because the surface was good for batting.
An inside edge did not mean the plan had failed; it suggested a channel worth persisting with. He recalls discussing that patience with senior teammates. The dismissal was the end of a sequence, rather than a delivery detached from the overs around it.
He also describes feeling unwell around the final and not being at full strength at the start. The match did not end with Saurashtra lifting the trophy, but the conversation shows how a bowler can value both his contribution and the work left to do.
The next level asks for more work
Ankur speaks warmly of a Saurashtra group in which different players accepted their responsibilities. The campaign was built around playing good cricket and improving the plans, not announcing at the first meeting that a final was guaranteed.
His own ambition follows a similarly practical line. Results do not always arrive immediately, even when the work is honest. Another level would mean facing better, more experienced players and preparing accordingly. He wants to increase the effort, rather than treat one tournament as proof the difficult part is over.
The wickets have made his name more familiar. The habits underneath them—turning up, listening, repeating a plan and accepting help—are the parts of his story he can carry into whatever opportunity comes next.
