Patna, Feb. 18: The vocal tonic of Tejaswi Yadav, son of former chief minister Lalu Prasad, might have been a wrong dose for Bihar voters but his batting skill was just right for a Jharkhand cricket team. Once a member of Delhi Daredevils, Tejaswi will be playing for Jamshedpur Janbaaz in the Jharkhand Premier League (JPL) slated from March 13-19.

Narendra Kumar Singh, the managing director of the franchise of Jamshedpur Janbaaz of the Frontline Group, said out of 20 players in his new team the most renowned was Lalu’s son Tejaswi. Singh, also the owner of the team, said: “In the beginning, no franchise was interested in buying Tejaswi. During the first round of the bidding of players, many franchises abstained from buying him. In the second round too, many were apprehensive about taking him. But I thought he is a good player and must buy him. I was the first one to bid for him.”

He said: “Everyone was shocked when I started his bidding. His capping was Rs 50,000, so I started with Rs 55,000. Soon, other franchises started bidding for him. At last I got him at Rs 1,31,500. Later, people said I had done a mistake by taking him but I believe he will turn out to be a key player of my team.”

When asked the reason behind buying Tejaswi, Singh said: “I have not taken Tejaswi because he is Lalu’s son. I have taken him on the basis on his calibre. Our experts have been keeping an eye on him for the past few months. Since he was playing in IPL for the Delhi team, they watched him many a times during practice sessions. I liked his style of batting.”

Tejaswi Yadav. Telegraph pictures

The Jamshedpur Janbaaz owner said: “Tejaswi is a good player and not a politician. I would suggest that he utilises his playing skills in the best way possible. He can do well in cricket. His talent has taken a beating because people refer to him as Lalu’s son. This should not be the case. He should have his own identity.”

When The Telegraph enlightened the team owner about the present form of Tejaswi and that he has not played good cricket so far, Singh said: “I completely disagree. When Sachin Tendulkar entered the international cricket stage he did not perform well in most of the matches. But he groomed himself and today people worship him. Sometimes good players do not get a platform and many a times their luck does not favour them.”

So did Lalu call up the owner who bought his son? Singh said: “No.”

Singh bought 20 players for the JPL for Rs 15 lakh. Tejaswi is the second most expensive player in the team after Mihir Diwakar.

“All the team members will gather in Ranchi on February 28. The practice sessions will start on March 1. The batting order has not been decided yet but Diwakar will lead the team. Apart from Jamshedpur Janbaaz, the other teams for JPL are Bokaro Bulls, Ranchi Rangers and Singhbhum Sher,” Singh said.