The past few days had not been kind to Jiwanjot Singh. After finishing as the highest Ranji Trophy run-getter last season,the opening batsman had been expecting a call for the India A team for South Africa's tour,or at least in the U-23 Indian side for the Asian meet in Singapore. However,his dreams came crashing down when he missed the cut in both the teams. At that juncture,Jiwanjot must have thought of starting everything right from the scratch. But Wednesday brought the smile back on his face when Jiwanjot was selected in the India A side to play the visiting New Zealand A. In fact he was caught unawares as he was practising at the PCA Stadium when his Punjab teammate,Sarabjit Ladda,broke the news of his selection to him. And on hearing the news,an elated Jiwanjot rang up his coach Mahesh Inder Singh in Patiala to tell him about the selection. The wait was finally over for both the coach and the ward. Speaking with Sportline,the soft-spoken Jiwanjot said: It is good to secure berth in the India A team. The wait to get the slot has been long but I am relieved now as I have something to cheer about. It was disappointing not to get opportunities before despite delivering the goods. Sometimes,it was difficult to understand the situation but I kept patience and put all my energy on training. All the matches of the series are scheduled to be played in Visakhapatnam,and the tour kicks off with the three-day match starting August 31. Despite being last seasons highest scorer with 995 runs in the Ranji Trophy,the Patiala-born batsman was deprived of anything substantial to prove his credentials. Jiwanjot faced some tough omissions regardless of his stunning performances in the Ranji Trophy that helped Punjab reach the semifinals after a long hiatus. His 217 against Hyderabad on his Ranji debut marked his arrival on the domestic circuit with a bang. Jiwanjot did not lose heart and took up the challenge and worked hard on developing his game with his coach in the recent months. I thought it was incredible for a debutant to score over 1000 runs in the domestic season. I mean a batsman scores heavily in a season in anticipation of bagging a spot in India A or India teams in future. When he was not given chance in the state ODI and T20 teams,he was a bit upset. But I counselled him and told him that he played well the whole season. All he needed to do was work on his game and keep his focus, shared Mahesh Inder Singh-Jiwanjots coach- who himself has played for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy. The fact that Jiwanjots game is not about big hitting but playing in the V also gave the impression of him suitable only for the longer version. So,for four months he worked towards developing his shots. He has been working on stepping out from the crease and playing the lofted shots. He doesnt need to go berserk over his technique. He just needs to develop more shots and everything will fall into the place. I am sure,he will do well against the Kiwis, felt Mahesh Inder. Apart from Jiwanjot ,the other two openers in the squad are Unmukt Chand and Vijay Zol.
