Aditya Chaudhary took his younger brother Amit Suman to the National Stadium four years ago because he did not have enough money to put him in a school. So impressed was the coach M.P. Singh with the left-arm pace bowler that he got him admitted to the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya. The coach paid the fees for the boy's admission.

And his school stood by him. Three years ago, when organisers of a tournament in the Capital threatened to scratch his name from the list of players, alleging that Suman was overage, it was the school principal who stood by him. ``If you dare to throw him out, I'll withdraw my team from the competition,'' she had said. Now, everyone is talking about the new ball sensation. His India Under-19 coach K. Srikkanth says he is ``sheer talent.''

``He has the potential to make it big. He is a fast learner,'' says former national coach Madan Lal. Legendary spinner Bishan Singh Bedi thinks he is a great find. In two one-day games of India Under-19 against the visiting Sri Lankans at Gwalior earlier this month, the 6'-tall, well-built speedster captured six wickets to steer the Indians to easy victories. In fact, in the second game, he had figures of 10-5-14-3. Moving the ball both ways, he extracted tremendous pace off the wicket from goodlength spots to trouble the Sri Lankan top-order.

His Gwalior expolits earned Suman a place in the Delhi Ranji squad in the Super League game against Orissa at Cuttack. A couple of good words about the young new-ball bowler from Srikkanth to Madan Lal was enough. Suman did not disappoint, capturing three wickets in Orissa's first innings and claiming another in the second.

Bishan Bedi, a regular visitor at the National Stadium, saw immense potential in the lad and took him on tours to England twice in the last two summers. ``He showed tremendous improvement on the tours,'' the legendary left-arm spinner said about Suman. Suman's stint at the MRF Pace Foundation camp in Chennai and a two-month summer camp under Australian speedsters Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson helped him hone his skills.

In the Cooch Behar Trophy (u-19) this season, Amit Suman captured 27 wickets in seven matches, including two seven-wicket hauls against Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. ``My elder brother is my inspiration. He has sacrificed so much to bring me to this level. I'll not fail him,'' Amit Suman says. In a country hungry for pace bowlers, a left-arm bowler always has an edge. Delhi's Ashish Nehra received a surprise call for the Asian Test Championship. Amit Suman is waiting.