Good things, as the cliched but true saying goes, come in small packages. Gavaskar, Viswanath, Tendulkar have all been short in height but long in stature.

It may perhaps be a little premature to bracket seventeen-year-old Bhavish Shetty in this string. But given his wonderful record so far, the day is not far when this right handed batsman joins this elite club of dimunitive cricketers.

At five feet two, Bhavish appears acompact, solid and elegant batsman with a wide-ranging strokes on either side of the wicket.

With so much of cricket played across the globe, it was little wonder that Bravish took a fancy to the game when he was just six. Coaching was no problem. His father Ratnakar Shetty, who works with the RCF, taught him the basics of batting. He must have surely done a neat job because Bravish's flashes of brilliance with the bat were spotted at a talent hunt contest.

And although Bravish began his stint with the Elf Academy of Dilip Vengsarkar under "Kulkarni and Tigdi Sir", his father continued to be his resident coach.

At his IES School, Bravish got useful tips from his school coach Gopal Koli. With so many coaches at his disposal, Bhavish found his skills multiplying.

Bravish had already dropped big hints of his batting abilities. At nine, he won a special award for his batting performance. Then for the next five years, he played several tournaments. In the first three years, he was consistent but could not get past thirties and forties. But in the last two years, he pulled up his socks to consecutively win the Best Batsman's Award. His scores were 99, 84 and 82.

In school, he was just majestic with the bat. In his first year with the Giles Shield he scored 198 in four matches. The second year was even better. with scores of 84, 200no and 154 in the finals, he scored a staggering 438 runs in three matches and averaged over hundred.

In the Harris Shield, he didn't do as well -- by his standards of course -- managing two fifties.

In the U-14 matches too he excelled. In the Worli Trophy, he scored a hundred and four fifties. In the Saamna Trophy he scored 365 in five matches including 144no and two fifties. In the Bombay U-14 for two years and U-15 for a year, Bravish has been very consistent.

In 2001, Bravish, playing for Bombay West Zone, scored three fifties. He now expects to be in the U-17 probables.

Says Bhavish: "My parents are my biggest support. They spur me to greater heights. My all-time favourite batsman is Mark Waugh. He is so stylish, so technically correct".

But Bravish doesn't ape his idol. "I play my own style, whatever that is", he says. He doesn't have very many hobbies, but in Podar College, he has now a fascination for football too.

With the cricketing season moving in top gear, there is little doubt that Bhavish will be adding more runs to his kitty.