By Nick Creely
For someone still so young, budding cricket superstar Yash Pednekar possesses a maturity so rare and precious.
Even despite racking up the accolades – DDCA Under 15 Player of the Season in 2016/17, Vic School Boys representation and selection in the Australian Under 16 team – he remains level-headed and respectful to a sport he dearly loves.
The 15-year-old North Dandenong product, who currently attends Beaconhills College in Berwick, has a new accolade to add to his already prestigious collection – the Greater Dandenong Junior Athlete of the Year.
It came off a year where he piled on 563 junior runs at DDCA level for the Maroons, and also made his Premier Cricket debut for Richmond and represented the Southern Pioneers in representative cricket.
As a youngster idolising cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, the legspinning all-rounder is dreaming of a future in the game and simply feels humbled to be recognised by his community for such a prestigious award.
“I didn’t know I was going to get it (the award) – it was a great surprise and it felt great to be acknowledged as one of the athlete’s coming through – it motivates me even more being noticed and just makes me work even harder,” Pednekar said.
“I want to give back to the community for supporting me throughout my journey so far – it’s not just the North Dandenong Cricket Club, but also Adrian Jones for nominating me – it’s great having the community behind me that’s for sure.”
Pednekar lives a busy cricketing lifestyle, with hectic training schedules throughout the off-season hopefully holding him in good stead for what is set to be a defining 2017/18 season.
Back in April, Pednekar was one of three young Victorians selected to represent Australia in September of this year, and will only months later play a junior international series against Pakistan, proudly wearing his national colours.
“I’ve been training with the Victorian Academy and been doing some work with my batting coach – I’ve been training quite a lot,” he said.
“I’ve just received a scholarship to Caulfield Grammar so I’ll be playing school cricket for them when I move at the end of this term, and when I’m not there I’ll be playing Premier Cricket with Richmond which is exciting.
“I also want to perform well in the upcoming National Under 17s tournament and also try and help the Australian Under 16s against Pakistan win the series, and also to just expand my game and get to know my game and what works for me and what doesn’t.”
Pednekar is an astute learner of the game, and studies the way his favourite cricketers both prepare on and off-field in order to get the best out of themselves.
His leadership and game is growing and expanding day by day, and recognises the mental side of the game – arguably the most important aspect in a cricketer’s career.
“This year I was in the Southern Pioneers, later on this year it starts in December and ends in January, so I might be captain in that – I know a lot of the strengths and weaknesses of a lot of those boys and I get along with them well,” he said.
“Throughout the journey, I’ve loved the way Sachin Tendulkar goes about it, but also Steve Smith – he is just unique but backs his ability and proves that belief overrides experience or how many games you have played.
“If you believe in yourself, it’s worth more than the amount of experience you have.
“I just want to improve my fitness overall because I’ll need to play games continually this year, and also just mentally get stronger and be positive in negative situations because they arise a lot.”
