RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s son Tejaswi Yadav played his first match for a senior state team when he turned out for Jharkhand against Tripura in a T20 match on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old has played for Delhi in age-group cricket and was also part of IPL team Delhi Daredevils' preliminary squad. He decided to shift to Jharkhand this year.

“Bihar does not have a team right now, so I decided to shift to Jharkhand because I wanted to play for a team close to my home, in Patna,” the soft-spoken right-handed middle-order batsman said when asked why he chose this state. He also hinted at political influences at work in Delhi.

“Even when I do well, people want to talk more about my political connections and less about my cricket. I captained the Delhi under-15 team to the Polly Umrigar Trophy title. As long as DDCA officials did not know who I was it was okay,” Tejaswi claimed.

He now wants to break into the Jharkhand team in all formats. Having been a part of the India under-19 team that won the world cup in 2008 — he did not play any matches — Tejaswi's ultimate aim is to represent the country.

Asked about Lalu Prasad, Tejaswi said his father was a keen cricket follower. “He was there at the Kotla during most of Delhi Daredevils’s matches (in IPL 1) even though I was not playing,” Tejaswi said.

He claimed that his father never forced him to choose a career. “My parents let us make our own decisions.”