A five-year-old batting in the nets with the hard cricket ball, displaying perfect technique and enviable hand-eye coordination. Sounds surreal? That is how it would normally appear but Sk Shahid is a wonder kid. At least the likes of Steve Waugh, Sachin Tendulkar and Michael Vaughan think so.

Tendulkar even invited the Calcutta-based child to his Middlesex Global Academy at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai last month. Shahid practised with the maestro on the first day while the remaining four days were spent under the tutelage of other coaches at the centre.

“Sachin Sir was very impressed with his game. He offered some advice on his footwork, grip, stance, swing and head position. He also dealt on the importance of swimming and improving fitness. Sachin told him to keep practising diligently at home,” Shahid’s father Sk Shamsher said on Friday.

Shamsher, who works in the housekeeping wing of a salon in New Alipore, had uploaded a video of his son on Twitter in early January. An overseas TV network retweeted the video tagging Tendulkar and Vaughan.

The move worked wonders. It prompted even spin legend Shane Warne, who passed away on March 4, to comment, “This is awesome!!!! Good luck Shahid”.

Tendulkar’s office got in touch with Shamsher and asked them to come to Mumbai for training. It was something “unimaginable” for the lower middle class family from Muchipara in Behala’s Sakuntala Park.

“We struggle to make ends meet. I didn’t know what to do when the proposal came. I was told that he wanted to see Shahid bat and they would organise our air fares and accommodation in Mumbai. I remain thankful to Sachin Sir for all this. Sachin Sir is his role model and even a thank you is not enough for what all he did for my son,” Shamsher said.

The journey started when Shahid was barely three and couldn’t even talk properly. Seeing his father watch cricket on TV, he revealed his desire to play the game. Shamsher organised a bat for him a few days later and was “stunned” by his style of batting.

It was then that Shamsher posted a video of Shahid batting in his diapers on Facebook. An excited Steve Waugh visited his Behala house in January 2020 when he was in India to shoot pictures for his book The Spirit of Cricket.

“This child is certainly talented... Incredible hand eye coordination,” the former Australia captain said in a promotional for his book.

Shahid now trains at Vivekananda School of Cricket at Vivekananda Park in south Calcutta and the coaches there have been taking care to nurture his talent.

“Cricket is an expensive sport and we have to specially order gears for him. They have been helping us in this respect,” his father said.

But the five days spent at Tendulkar’s Middlesex Global Academy were priceless. “We got to see Vinod Kambli Sir who is also attached to the academy. But nothing could match Sachin Sir’s humility. He gave advice on which balls to play on the back-foot, which on the front foot... They also showed how catches are to be taken, how important was the bat swing in stroke-making,” Shamsher said.