- Joined
- Aug 29, 2023
- Runs
- 40,831
Overnight sensation Wadia reaps reward for years of sacrifice
Indian-born Jerrssis Wadia's rise to a spot on the Strikers' list was far from straightforward, as he detailed on The Surge podcast
He might have thundered 34 from 16 deliveries in the Adelaide Strikers' run chase against Brisbane Heat on Saturday night, but a place on a Big Bash list did not fall into Jerrssis Wadia's lap.
Nothing ever has. Wadia is not the archetypal pathway prodigy who has had the rails run into the life of an elite Twenty20 cricketer.
Instead, this 24-year-old Mumbai-born allrounder had to grow up very quickly.
Wadia first came to Australia aged 17, dabbling with the South Australia U19s and Adelaide Strikers Academy, only to return to his parents' home in Mumbai as Covid-19 struck and international borders began to close.
It's safe to say Wadia's path was not straightforward, as he detailed to The Surge podcast in an episode released on today, prompting guest host Bharat Sundaresan to describe the chat as
"Financially, it was tough for my parents to support me over here," says Wadia.
"I had to go back and live in India for a couple of years, and then I missed my U19s because of Covid in India. If you miss U19 in India, it becomes really, really tough because there's so many good, proper young kids that straight away get fast tracked to the IPL and the Indian system.
"So I had to make a decision on what I needed to do.
"I left everything and came to Australia just for one goal – to play cricket, nothing else. The only goal was to become a professional cricketer in Australia.
"My parents were not overly happy with that decision and they didn't agree. There was a bit of a disagreement within the family because they weren't able to financially support me, but I just wanted to leave and wanted to show and express myself back here.
"It was really tough. My first two years were really tough."
Slowly finding his feet in Australia, he took up coaching junior cricket – "throwing balls to kids to earn money" – to cover his rent, as well as learning to cook and fend for himself, including riding the bus to his training sessions.
To this day, he still doesn't have a car.
"I always bus with my kitbag everywhere, even now," he says. "I think in the coming year I'll get a car, hopefully in January."
Wadia is quick to highlight the support the Strikers have provided him this summer.
"They've been really kind. Whatever they can do, they've done," he says.
"It's been some journey, and I'm really pleased where I am right now. I don't want to go back to that life (in India), so I'll keep working hard and keep getting better and keep learning."
Now having lived in Australia for the required three years, Wadia qualifies as a domestic player for the Strikers, signing on for KFC BBL|15 as a local replacement for Test star Alex Carey as of mid-December.
He has played cricket all his life. His parents hail from Mumbai, though he spent most of his formative years with his grandparents, a further 400km away in Gujarat, and his junior cricket was played under the jurisdiction of the Baroda Cricket Association.
It's a long way from Gujarat to the Gabba, particularly for a man who candidly describes the teenaged version of himself as "timid" upon arriving in Australia.
"I was actually a really emotional and timid guy when I first came to Australia," he explained.
"It was a really different environment compared to back home. It was hard to communicate, hard to make friends.
"One good thing that happened, though, was I used to net-bowl a lot for the Aussie team whenever they had a series here, or the South Australia team.
"One thing I noticed from the top players is the backing of their ability that they have in themselves, and the trust that they have in their game.
"From there on I understood it's not about what you do in terms of what shots you have, or what you can do in in terms of your skills, but it's about being really fearless and being really confident in what you have and just backing yourself to do that every time.
"It's not about it working every time but about trusting and backing it every time, because there will be a time where it will click, and when it clicks, it will be your day.
"From there on I started changing the way I thought and started taking my failures as more process-driven, not skill-driven.
"If I back my ability and if I fail, I'm completely fine. I started understanding that it's fine because it's not about the way I play but it's about the way I think.
"If I'm thinking right and if I don't perform it's fine, because at the end of the day if I keep doing that consistently, I will find a way to perform because my thinking is right."
This transformation led to a performance against the Heat that Wadia felt was best described as "fearless".
"I just wanted to express myself the best way possible," he continued, referring to his arrival at the crease with his side 5-120 with less than six overs remaining in the match.
"When I went in it was the Power Surge. As a team 'Painey' (coach Tim Paine) had told us to enjoy ourselves and put our foot on the pedal. The situation demanded that, and I just backed myself.
"The key thing I did was backing my ability, whether it was ball one or whatever ball, just making sure that I backed and trusted my ability and gave my full intent and focus on that particular ball and to just be fearless overall.
"I know it was my second game, but it is still about just backing my ability. Only then would I be able to do something like that."
In just his second Big Bash innings, Wadia hit each of his first three balls faced for six against the Heat, with the fourth also going to boundary to take 24 runs from Jack Wildermuth's 15th over. While the Strikers ultimately fell short in their run chase at the Gabba, they get a chance for instant redemption in tonight's New Year's Eve blockbuster in Adelaide, also against the Heat.
"Obviously I was nervous," he added, laughing. "It was my second game and the Gabba was really loud."
This years-long evolution from timid to fearless was aided by exposure to none other than Travis Head, a product of Wadia's Premier club in South Australia, Tea Tree Gully.
"I used to bowl to him and I had seen him play on the international stage," Wadia says. "He just backs his ability to the core; he's a perfect role model, (especially) as a South Aussie guy and a member of my club.
"He's someone I've looked up to for his mindset. He's been amazing to learn from, with the way he goes about his game and the way he just backs himself, and the trust that he has in his abilities.
"That's what I've got, or I'm trying to get, that feeling."
Wadia's Instagram – which has seen an explosion of new followers – includes a bio that reads persistently consistent. It's a personal catchcry he's trying to live by each day.
"It's about being consistent with what I'm doing, because I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know when it would click," he explains.
"But it's been three years now where I'm really strict on what I eat. I take my health really seriously. I learned how to cook. I wasn't eating (takeaway food) the past few years, I didn't drink a lot, didn't go to parties, I prioritise sleep ... I want to be really consistent.
"If it works or it doesn't work, it doesn't matter. I just wanted my life to be really consistent on that basis. And then it'll automatically feed off what I want to do.
"It's something that I felt like I should write, and that's something I tell myself, to just be persistent with that consistency."
To move to the other side of the world, without the safety net of family or the familiarity of home, to pursue a dream is a risk only those with the most burning of desires can see through.
Wadia, evidently, is one of the rare few.
"One thing that I told myself is it's just one life – give your all," he says.
"If it works it will work, and if it does it will be unbelievable and your life will change.
"But if it doesn't, at least I gave it my shot. It was kind of an exit from my personal stress, and I just wanted to go back to cricket and play cricket as much as I can, because the outside part was really tough.
"It just gave me a smile on my face whenever I was facing a ball or when I was bowling. That just kept me going harder and harder, and made me want to improve and get better."
It's an approach informed by courage, persistence, desire and, yes that word, consistency, that has helped Wadia blossom into the fearless player on show at the Gabba.
"Luckily, it worked (against the Heat). But it's just the start," he says.
"I have to keep doing what I'm doing and keep getting better."
Indian-born Jerrssis Wadia's rise to a spot on the Strikers' list was far from straightforward, as he detailed on The Surge podcast
He might have thundered 34 from 16 deliveries in the Adelaide Strikers' run chase against Brisbane Heat on Saturday night, but a place on a Big Bash list did not fall into Jerrssis Wadia's lap.
Nothing ever has. Wadia is not the archetypal pathway prodigy who has had the rails run into the life of an elite Twenty20 cricketer.
Instead, this 24-year-old Mumbai-born allrounder had to grow up very quickly.
Wadia first came to Australia aged 17, dabbling with the South Australia U19s and Adelaide Strikers Academy, only to return to his parents' home in Mumbai as Covid-19 struck and international borders began to close.
It's safe to say Wadia's path was not straightforward, as he detailed to The Surge podcast in an episode released on today, prompting guest host Bharat Sundaresan to describe the chat as
"Financially, it was tough for my parents to support me over here," says Wadia.
"I had to go back and live in India for a couple of years, and then I missed my U19s because of Covid in India. If you miss U19 in India, it becomes really, really tough because there's so many good, proper young kids that straight away get fast tracked to the IPL and the Indian system.
"So I had to make a decision on what I needed to do.
"I left everything and came to Australia just for one goal – to play cricket, nothing else. The only goal was to become a professional cricketer in Australia.
"My parents were not overly happy with that decision and they didn't agree. There was a bit of a disagreement within the family because they weren't able to financially support me, but I just wanted to leave and wanted to show and express myself back here.
"It was really tough. My first two years were really tough."
Slowly finding his feet in Australia, he took up coaching junior cricket – "throwing balls to kids to earn money" – to cover his rent, as well as learning to cook and fend for himself, including riding the bus to his training sessions.
To this day, he still doesn't have a car.
"I always bus with my kitbag everywhere, even now," he says. "I think in the coming year I'll get a car, hopefully in January."
Wadia is quick to highlight the support the Strikers have provided him this summer.
"They've been really kind. Whatever they can do, they've done," he says.
"It's been some journey, and I'm really pleased where I am right now. I don't want to go back to that life (in India), so I'll keep working hard and keep getting better and keep learning."
Now having lived in Australia for the required three years, Wadia qualifies as a domestic player for the Strikers, signing on for KFC BBL|15 as a local replacement for Test star Alex Carey as of mid-December.
He has played cricket all his life. His parents hail from Mumbai, though he spent most of his formative years with his grandparents, a further 400km away in Gujarat, and his junior cricket was played under the jurisdiction of the Baroda Cricket Association.
It's a long way from Gujarat to the Gabba, particularly for a man who candidly describes the teenaged version of himself as "timid" upon arriving in Australia.
"I was actually a really emotional and timid guy when I first came to Australia," he explained.
"It was a really different environment compared to back home. It was hard to communicate, hard to make friends.
"One good thing that happened, though, was I used to net-bowl a lot for the Aussie team whenever they had a series here, or the South Australia team.
"One thing I noticed from the top players is the backing of their ability that they have in themselves, and the trust that they have in their game.
"From there on I understood it's not about what you do in terms of what shots you have, or what you can do in in terms of your skills, but it's about being really fearless and being really confident in what you have and just backing yourself to do that every time.
"It's not about it working every time but about trusting and backing it every time, because there will be a time where it will click, and when it clicks, it will be your day.
"From there on I started changing the way I thought and started taking my failures as more process-driven, not skill-driven.
"If I back my ability and if I fail, I'm completely fine. I started understanding that it's fine because it's not about the way I play but it's about the way I think.
"If I'm thinking right and if I don't perform it's fine, because at the end of the day if I keep doing that consistently, I will find a way to perform because my thinking is right."
This transformation led to a performance against the Heat that Wadia felt was best described as "fearless".
"I just wanted to express myself the best way possible," he continued, referring to his arrival at the crease with his side 5-120 with less than six overs remaining in the match.
"When I went in it was the Power Surge. As a team 'Painey' (coach Tim Paine) had told us to enjoy ourselves and put our foot on the pedal. The situation demanded that, and I just backed myself.
"The key thing I did was backing my ability, whether it was ball one or whatever ball, just making sure that I backed and trusted my ability and gave my full intent and focus on that particular ball and to just be fearless overall.
"I know it was my second game, but it is still about just backing my ability. Only then would I be able to do something like that."
In just his second Big Bash innings, Wadia hit each of his first three balls faced for six against the Heat, with the fourth also going to boundary to take 24 runs from Jack Wildermuth's 15th over. While the Strikers ultimately fell short in their run chase at the Gabba, they get a chance for instant redemption in tonight's New Year's Eve blockbuster in Adelaide, also against the Heat.
"Obviously I was nervous," he added, laughing. "It was my second game and the Gabba was really loud."
This years-long evolution from timid to fearless was aided by exposure to none other than Travis Head, a product of Wadia's Premier club in South Australia, Tea Tree Gully.
"I used to bowl to him and I had seen him play on the international stage," Wadia says. "He just backs his ability to the core; he's a perfect role model, (especially) as a South Aussie guy and a member of my club.
"He's someone I've looked up to for his mindset. He's been amazing to learn from, with the way he goes about his game and the way he just backs himself, and the trust that he has in his abilities.
"That's what I've got, or I'm trying to get, that feeling."
Wadia's Instagram – which has seen an explosion of new followers – includes a bio that reads persistently consistent. It's a personal catchcry he's trying to live by each day.
"It's about being consistent with what I'm doing, because I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know when it would click," he explains.
"But it's been three years now where I'm really strict on what I eat. I take my health really seriously. I learned how to cook. I wasn't eating (takeaway food) the past few years, I didn't drink a lot, didn't go to parties, I prioritise sleep ... I want to be really consistent.
"If it works or it doesn't work, it doesn't matter. I just wanted my life to be really consistent on that basis. And then it'll automatically feed off what I want to do.
"It's something that I felt like I should write, and that's something I tell myself, to just be persistent with that consistency."
To move to the other side of the world, without the safety net of family or the familiarity of home, to pursue a dream is a risk only those with the most burning of desires can see through.
Wadia, evidently, is one of the rare few.
"One thing that I told myself is it's just one life – give your all," he says.
"If it works it will work, and if it does it will be unbelievable and your life will change.
"But if it doesn't, at least I gave it my shot. It was kind of an exit from my personal stress, and I just wanted to go back to cricket and play cricket as much as I can, because the outside part was really tough.
"It just gave me a smile on my face whenever I was facing a ball or when I was bowling. That just kept me going harder and harder, and made me want to improve and get better."
It's an approach informed by courage, persistence, desire and, yes that word, consistency, that has helped Wadia blossom into the fearless player on show at the Gabba.
"Luckily, it worked (against the Heat). But it's just the start," he says.
"I have to keep doing what I'm doing and keep getting better."
