16-year-old Rahul, who did his schooling in Gregorios and is now in Podar College, prides on the fact that he is an all rounder. A right-handed middle order batsman and a fast medium pacer, Rahul's proclivities lie with the bowling. That he evinces keen interest in bowling is amply evident in the passion and fire he packs in it.

Surprisingly, Rahul did not start young as most of his ilk do these days. His brush with cricket was on a rather serious note at the age of 11. Even then, he played with a rubber ball and practiced fast bowling.

Coaching was no problem. Infact, it was sort of in-house coaching at the Elf Academy run by his paternal uncle Dilip Vengsarkar. His coaches Kulkarni and Tigdi Sir fine-tuned his skills.

with his inherent interest, Rahul quickly grasped the essentials of the art and was able to include all the weapons in his fast bowling armoury. Being a keen observer, he would watch his idol Glenn Macgrath bowl. Accuracy, he learnt, was the prime pre-requisite of a fast bowler.

In 2002, he began his stint in real competitive cricket with Harris Shield. In his debut match, he took five wickets and scored 26 runs. In the second, he took four wickets and scored 42. His school lost that match, but Rahul's performance got noticed and how.

In the Kalpesh Koli tournament, Rahul fared even better. In the first match he scalped 4 wickets and scored 72 and in the second he took 3 wickets and scored 32. He went wicketless in the third match, but bounced back to capture two wickets in the fourth. Not only did he bag the Best Bowler's award, he was twice adjudged the Man of the Match. That was first class stuff for someone who had begun so late.

In the Saamna Cup, he took five wickets in three matches, showing that his initial success wasn't just a fluke.

In the Elf Cup, he played two matches and took three wickets each, scoring 38 in the second. His consistency with the bat and the ball was on full display in the Worli Trophy too. In the first outing he took 3 wickets, in the second 1 wicket and 38 runs, in the third 2 wickets and in the fourth, three wickets and 38 runs. He however had a lean patch in the Shatkar Trophy.

Rahul's all-round consistency could not have gone unnoticed. He was named in the U-14, U-15 and U-17 probables. This year too his confidence has come true. He has been selected for the U-17 team this year. Rahul was also able to stamp his talent at the Race for Pace hunt by the MRF Foundation where the legendary Aussie speedster Dennis Lillee is a coach. He was among the four finalists selected from amongst 6000 aspirants at the camp.
So who is Rahul's favourites? It's Macgrath and Jacques Kallis. The first for his accuracy and the other for being a fine all-rounder.

Rahul's dad, who runs a business and mother, who is working with the RBI, encourage him all the time.

Says Rahul: "There is a good cricketing atmosphere in our (Podar) college and talent abounds all the time". But he isn't just obsessed with cricket. He also finds time for other hobbies like philately, net surfing and listening to music.

For Rahul, the long run up has become. Wait for the day when he would be winning matches for his teams on his solo performance.