Netherlands Announces Swiggy Delivery Boy as a Net Bowler for World Cup 2023

Netherlands Announces Swiggy Delivery Boy as a Net Bowler for World Cup 2023: Four net bowlers have been chosen by the Netherlands cricket team to assist them at their pre-World Cup training camp in Alur. One of the four net bowlers, Lokesh Kumar, will use his chinaman bowling to aid the Dutch team’s preparation for the next ODI World Cup 2023.

Cricket Netherlands posted a social media ad a few days ago asking for net bowlers to help them in the nets. The Dutch board selected four Indian men to join them in the nets after being overwhelmed by the response.

One of the four net bowlers is Chennai’s Lokesh Kumar who comes in as a Chinaman bowler. And as learned from the official handle of the Netherlands cricket board, the 29-year-old spinner delivers food for Swiggy for a living.

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While the likes of Indian cricket team, Australian cricket team, defending champions England, Pakistan among others will be favourite, the smaller teams at the Cricket World Cup like Netherlands will be no pushover. They can upset any team on their day at the Cricket World Cup. Recently, Netherlands team put out an advertisement for four net bowlers. They were recently announced and hail from different parts of India.

One among them is Lokesh Kumar from Chennai. According to aTimes of India report, Lokesh is a food delivery executive with Swiggy. And now he will bowl to the Netherlands team at the nets ahead of the Cricket World Cup. “I played in the fifth division for four years. I have registered with fourth division outfit Indian Oil RO (S&RC) for the current season. After being picked by the Netherlands team as a net bowlers I feel, my talent has been recognised,” Lokesh said.

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“Thank you for the overwhelming response to our net bowlers hunt, India. Here the 4 names who will be part of the team’s #CWC23 preparations,” wrote the caption.

“This is one of the most precious moments of my career. I am yet to even play in the TNCA third division league. I played in the fifth division for four years and I have registered for fourth-division outfit Indian Oil (RO) S&RC for the ongoing season. After being picked by the Netherlands as a net bowler, I feel that my talent has finally been recognised,” Lokesh told TOI.

“The Netherlands team members welcomed me with open arms; there was an induction ceremony for the net bowlers before the beginning of the session. The players told us: ‘feel free, this is your team’. I already feel that I am part of the Dutch family,” Lokesh added.

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“After seeing the advertisement, I was keen to give it a try. I felt that I would have an edge over others as there are not many chinaman bowlers in the country. Netherlands were looking for a mystery spinner. So, I decided to give it a try.”

“After my college days, my entire focus was on cricket. I spent four years on cricket. In 2018, I decided to take up a job. I have been with Swiggy for the last four years. I earn money only by delivering food; I do not have any other source of income. The work timings are flexible and I can take leave whenever I want to. We usually have TNCA league matches only on the weekends, so I work during the weekdays.”