Among the first ones to take cue from the Board of Control for Cricket in India's 'amnesty' offer to the rebel Indian Cricket League players will be the former Punjab and India all-rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhi. Having had his stint with the ICL,Sodhi wants to return to the BCCI fold and dreams about playing first-class cricket for his state once again. The BCCI has agreed to take back the ICL players if they break their contracts with the league by May 31. There are many in the ICL who will ponder a comeback to the mainstream but Sodhi is the first one to actually talk openly about it: "I do miss playing for my state Punjab a lot. With due respect to ICL,if ending ties with it will allow cricketers to play for their states and maybe for India,then why not?",Sodhi who played for Chandigarh Lions in the first edition and for Ahmedabad Rockets in the second edition,told The Indian Express. When he signed on the ICL about two years ago,Sodhi was struggling to make an impression on the national arena owing to an injury and a bad phase. And like many of his Punjab team mates he too followed the ICL bandwagon,kissing goodbye to the mainstream. The players were then banned by the BCCI. "It will be a very tough decision for any ICL player simply because ICL has been good with the players. I mean who could have thought playing alongside such amazing international players and coaches and also the support staff. We learnt a lot during these two years. But the fact that we could not represent our state or country was quite saddening. I am quite keen on my comeback into the BCCI fold," he said. Sodhi,28,grew up in Patiala nursing a dream of playing for India. He was merely 15 when he stood at the Lord's balcony with the Under-15 World Cup in his hand. Not only this,the Indian skipper was also the man of the final against Pakistan with figures of 3 for 34 and an unbeaten knock of 82 and he soon became a household name and a player to watch out for. Four years later,Sodhi was drafted into the Indian side after his heroics in another final: this time as member of the Indian team which won the U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka. But with his average performance with the bat and ball,he was soon ousted from the Indian team's scheme of things. He could score 280 runs from 18 one-day internationals at a modest average of 25.45 and picked up five wickets at 73 runs apiece.In the last two years,Sodhi has just played T-20 cricket. When asked whether this will act as deterrent,in the longer version of the game on the domestic circuit,he said,"I really don't think that if will hamper the approach and mindset of a cricketer. Moreover,T-20 is getting popular by the day."
