मिच ओवेन की चमकती यात्रा – अनजानी से विजय की ओर

Mitch Owen's meteoric rise – A journey from obscurity to glory

Mitch Owen, 23, seemed destined for a quiet career in cricket, having faced just 66 deliveries and bowled 21 overs across four BBL seasons with the Hobart Hurricanes. But instead of fading into obscurity, Owen flipped the script. He shot to fame as one of the greatest exponents of the 10-year challenge on social media.

A decade later, on the same Bellerive turf and in front of the same delirious Hobart crowd, Owen notched a match-winning hundred in the finals, handing the Hurricanes their elusive first BBL title.

After a quiet start, the Hurricanes entrusted Owen to open the batting, and he seized the opportunity. Before his heroics in the final, he had already scored a century during the round-robin stage and remained prolific throughout the tournament.

"I'm still sort of coming to terms with the whole experience of winning that title that night. The emotion was so surreal. I was just in shock of what had just happened," Owen said to Cricbuzz.

Owen's achievement was immortalized by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, who displayed his bat and batting gloves.

This seminal moment launched Owen's career into overdrive. He has since played in some of the biggest leagues like SA20, PSL, IPL, and MLC. His BBL final heroics earned him a call-up to the SA20 as Joe Root's replacement. He joined Peshawar Zalmi in early April and has been on the road ever since, with stints at Punjab Kings and Washington Freedom.

Despite his whirlwind career, Owen remains grounded.

"I'm just trying to be a consistent person. My parents drummed into me from an early age that I'm a person, and my life is separate from Mitch the cricketer. What's more important is that I'm a good person, that I'm respectful, kind, than being a good cricketer," Owen said.

Owen's journey culminated in an Australia call-up for the tour of the Caribbean.

"When I got the call and (George Bailey) let me know that I'd be joining the squad, it was a dream come true," Owen said.

While happy about the white-ball call-up, Owen is already looking ahead to a more coveted prize: the Baggy Green. He remains committed to getting into his red-ball rhythm for Tasmania come Sheffield Shield time later this year.

"Every Australian kid that plays cricket, it's their dream to wear the baggy green. As much as this T20 lifestyle, and it's happened all fast, and I've played a lot of T20 over the last six months, that's been great and a lot of fun. But I also can't wait to get back and play some Shield cricket for Tassie and put the whites back on. That dream of wearing the baggy green is still very, very relevant. And I look forward to hopefully chasing that too."

Owen is a strapping figure at 100 kgs and 6'5. He bats without a care in the world, his long chiseled frame, broad stance, and big stride down the ground making for compelling viewing.

Owen has his own pre-ball physical and mental routines.

"When I'm walking out there to face ball one, I'll scratch the surface a few times. Go out there, guard the wicket a little bit, come back, few stretches. And then I'll mark center once, walk back out on the wicket, go ahead and come back once. I'll mark the center twice. I'm locked in. Then I'd keep saying watch the ball get forward. And then my mind's thinking about hitting an on drive. Because I feel that gets me in the best position to firstly, react to the short ball through my weight going forward, and then be able to push back. And then, if it's full, my weight is already going forward, so I can sort of react. Those two scratches, is when I forget about everything else. One, when I do the first scratch and I'm walking down the wicket, I'm sort of looking at the field, just kind of zoned out a little bit. And then once I get back and scratch twice, and, all right, locked in. Let's go"