An uphill battle: From a plumber to a Ranji Player - the journey of Prashant Rana from Odisha

From working as a plumber for 9 odd years to sealing his place in Odisha's Ranji team, Prashant Rana has gone through a journey packed with hardship and unceasing efforts to achieve the rare feat.

In an exemplary show of grit and determination, 24=year-old Prashant Rana has proved nothing is impossible. Coming from a remote village of Odisha's Nayagarh, Prashant is all set to represent the Odisha Ranji Trophy team.From working as a plumber for 9 odd years to sealing his place in Odisha's Ranji team, Rana has gone through a journey packed with hardship and unceasing efforts to achieve the rare feat.

Rana is all set to represent the state in the Ranji Trophy tournament slated to be held in Ahmedabad on February 17, where Odisha will play against Saurashtra in the Elite Group D match.

Rana would work as a plumber during the first half of the day for survival, toiling and calling on his relentless perseverance to pursue his dreams at the stadium in the afternoon.

Coming from a poor marginalised farmer family, Prashant's father Sanatan Rana, a farmer, also worked as a priest in the village's Shiva temple in Odisha's Nayagarh district, while his brother earned his livelihood by selling vegetables.

After completing his matriculation from a village school in his native town Nayagarh, Rana took up graduation. However, fate has some other plans for him. Passionate about cricket since his early childhood, Rana left his college studies midway in 2011 and convinced his father and elder brother to allow him to play cricket at Silver City Cuttack, the headquarters of Odisha Cricket Association.

As he left home for Cuttack to begin his dream career, his family members sent him Rs 2000 in the first instance.

However, in the next 4 months, life took a new twist as his father was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The money coming to him got stopped, as the family could save any money hardly due to all the medical costs.