Tara Murray
Ikroop Dhanoa is hoping to make the most of his last under-age national championships.
Having been first selected in a state team in under-12s, Dhoana has worked his way through the pathways.
He was recently named in the Victorian Metro under-19 team for a second straight year.
For Dhanoa, he had hoped that he had done enough to be part of the team again.
“It should be good fun,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.
“I thought I had done enough and had some pretty good performances in premier cricket with Fitzroy-Doncaster. I trialed pretty well too.
“Obviously playing in the under-19s in my last year is special. It’s all senior cricket after this.”
Dhanoa said he was putting no expectations on himself at the nationals which are being played in Adelaide in December.
He said he just wants to play his role for his team.
“I’ll do whatever I can to help us win games and hopefully win the national championships.
“I’ll go out and try my best.”
Dhanoa is quick to give credit to the three clubs he’s been involved in for the success that he has had.
He started with Diamond Valley Cricket Association club Bundoora United after his dad joined the club there.
Next was a move to Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association club Plenty Valley. Dhanoa said the experiences at the Bats had been massive, including making his first XI debut.
“Plenty Valley played an important role in my development,” he said.
“Playing with past premier first XI players with a wealth of experience every Saturday helped fast track my development.”
The spinner joined Victorian Premier Club Fitzroy Doncaster for the 2019-20 season, making his first XI debut the following season.
Last season he spent the majority of the season in the top side, but started this season in the second XI.
Dhanoa said the support given to him by the club, especially Michael O’Sullivan had been really instrumental in his development.
“My game has got so much better and transformed at Fitzroy Doncaster,” he said.
“It has been a great experience playing with and against players you see on television. Learning from those guys has been really good.”
As well as the national championships, Dhanoa’s focus this season is cementing his spot in Fitzroy-Doncaster’s first XI.
He said long term the goal still remained trying to play for Victoria and Australia.
“I’m going to try and still work on my art,” he said. “I’m still pretty young and I don’t have to rush things too much.
“I’ll continue to work on my game and hopefully the results will show through.
“The goal when I was young was to play for Victoria and then Australia. It would be good to play at the highest level I can. It’s certainly the goal.”
