Rajasthan Royals and Saurashtra pacer Siddharth Trivedi is in a fix — he doesn’t know whether to smile in joy or cry for the spot that he is in at the moment. A fortnight ago the Rajasthan Royals’ player became the proud father of a bonnie son. The joy was, however, rudely wiped out on Friday when the 30-year-old player was summoned by Delhi police to become a prosecution witness in the IPL spot-fixing scandal.This is not the first time when the former Gujarat seamer has found himself on such a shaky wicket. In the past too, he has faced such catch 22 situations. As a rookie speedster Trivedi attracted attention with his nine wickets in seven matches in the U-19 World Cup in early 2002 played in New Zealand. In the same year he made debut for Gujarat. The youngster showed a lot of promise. Subsequently he managed to bag the Border-Gavaskar scholarship. Under the scholarship, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sent him to train for five weeks at the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy in Australia.On his return he was inducted in the Challengers Trophy 2003 and he rubbed his shoulders with the stalwarts of the game. Around the same time Javagal Srinath announced his retirement, raising hopes for Trivedi. Unfortunately, it turned out to be mirage as his U-19 mate Irfan Pathan was gaining momentum earning the sobriquet ‘Sultan of Swing’. Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar too were sharing the new ball for Team India.“You can call him one of the unluckiest bowlers, not able to make it to India team. He has been consistent performer for his state and teams he played for Gujarat. In 2005-06 season he was among the top three wicket-takers in the Ranji Trophy,” said Vijay Patel coach of Gujarat team.However, Trivedi always played the game fairly. When he was put under the scanner for his suspect bowling action or the Gujarat management termed him a spent force compelling him to make a move to Saurashtra last season. Trivedi, however, has always taken the adversities sportingly. He prospered and emerged as smart and matured bowler after playing under the captaincy of Shane Warne at Rajasthan Royals. For all the six seasons he has been with Royals and has proved to be an asset. Even the latest captain Rahul Dravid showed lot of confidence in him. However, Trivedi was destined to face another dark chapter of his career. He shared new ball with Amit Singh for Gujarat and also at Rajasthan Royals. It wasn’t surprising when Singh tried to convince him to become part of his betting racket, the information which was revealed by Delhi Police a few days ago.“It is good for him (turning witness). It is not easy to deal with such things, after bookies have approached you. I am confident he will overcome this challenge too,” said one of Trivedi’s team mates. Besides the tainted trio of RR Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, the bookies also approached Brad Hodge, Kevon Cooper and Trivedi — but the players had no hesitation in turning down the offers, the Delhi police had announced.

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