cricket:image:1459327 [900x506]
cricket:image:1459327 [900x506] (Credit: Asif Haque)

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The first Adivasi [tribal] player to play in the IPL - you must have read the headlines just under a year ago.

It was all about to happen for Robin Minz after Gujarat Titans (GT) shelled out INR 3.6 crore for the wicketkeeper-batter till a motorcycle accident just before the start of the IPL 2024 season took him away from cricket. He is back now, putting the pieces back together, 22 years old but already having to make up for lost time.

"When I had the accident, the first thing that came to my mind was… how will I play cricket now, what will happen to the IPL," Minz told ESPNcricinfo on the sidelines of Jharkhand's Ranji Trophy game against Chandigarh in Jamshedpur a few days ago, his comeback game.

"IPL was the first step, through which I had to move forward. But everything seemed to end. But after the accident, my family and coaches [Asif Haque and SP Gautam], my friends, and [GT coach Ashish] Nehra sir helped me a lot. Nehra sir called me several times and kept assuring me that I would be back.

"During the IPL, I got a call from Titans that I have to stay with the team and do rehab with their physio [Rohit Salavkar]. I went there. Whenever there was a home match, I used to go. Rohit sir and the entire team helped me a lot. Even though I was not playing IPL, I enjoyed being with the team."

GT did what they could, but the opportunity of IPL was gone, and it wasn't easy to deal with. It wasn't easy for his family either. Once upon a time, they had to think many times, count their savings, before buying Minz a new cricket bat. That was about to change, but it didn't.

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Sometime between the accident and Minz travelling to Ahmedabad to be with his GT team-mates, he turned up at Ranchi's Sonnet Club, where he trained under Haque and Gautam.

"One day I was in my academy, I saw that Robin had come. I was shocked - he was supposed to rest," Haque said. "I asked him what he was doing. His reply was, 'I know that I will not be able to play right now but let me sit here, I want to spend some time here'."

Perhaps the first steps towards the inevitable comeback.

"It is normal to be scared and nervous about an incident like this, but we knew that his condition was not very serious," Minz's father, Francis Xavier, said. "I knew this was a big shock for Robin. You may call it a lesson or something else. We do not think so much about money, but the bigger concern was that the cricket ground had been taken away from him. Playing the game was more important than the money.

"Ever since he started playing, I have never seen him step away from cricket. We thought we would see him playing in the IPL, but that didn't happen."

Minz is back playing cricket, but has been released by GT, and while he is in the IPL 2025 mega auction longlist - with a base price of INR 30 lakh - franchises are likely to be cautious even if he had come with a big reputation before the last auction.

"Cricket is his life, but it is not as if his life will end if he doesn't get a chance in the IPL," Xavier said. "Our entire family has taught him to fight difficult situations. He will work hard again, play well again, and try again next time. Whatever happens after that will happen."

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Minz's cricketing journey started at Sonnet Club. It was there that he got the nickname 'Chris Gayle of Jharkhand'. Minz spent a lot of time at the club while recovering from his injuries - the big ones were to his shoulders and legs. As he got better, his work on the field doubled, and then tripled.

"Robin was very disappointed with himself, he blamed himself for what had happened," Haque said. "But we spoke to him, and he channeled his disappointment into the desire to make a comeback, be even better.

"Anyone who saw him training, he was at a new level. I have worked with him for the last eight-nine years, but I had not seen this. He was adamant that he had to make a strong comeback on the cricket field."

Then came the Col. CK Nayudu trophy, and Minz was in the Jharkhand XI for their first game, the only one he played. He scored 77 runs in 80 balls against Haryana from No. 4, his innings included ten fours and three sixes. And then, with Ishan Kishan away in Australia with the India A side, Minz's first-class debut happened. That hasn't been too dramatic. So far, he has scores of 12 and 16 against Chandigarh and 8 and 39 against Saurashtra. That 39, though, came in a match-saving 84-run stand with Anukul Roy for the sixth wicket.

"A lot has changed in the last one year," he said. "I never thought that so many people would know me and worry about me. After the accident, I don't know how many messages came, everyone was trying to console me. I was a little sad, but now I know that I will come back."

Questions about the IPL auction were to be expected - even fans who stopped him to take selfies during the Chandigarh game asked him about it.

"I am not thinking anything," he said. "I just want to play cricket - this is my life. What will I do thinking about what has happened and what will happen; whatever has to happen will happen. But I will play good cricket. I have to score more runs, and I have to hit more sixes and fours.

"I am back… Minz is back."

This story was first published in Hindi on ESPNcricinfo