England trip cut short,Jharkhand boy dreams India dreams

Late last month,Saurabh Tiwary had a short brush with a sort of identity crisis.

Fighting hard with a suitcase lock that refused to open before the India A teams departure for the ongoing tour in England,the batsman called the manufacturer to send someone to the team hotel here to fix it. Bhaiya hum Saurabh Tiwary bol rahe hain, he said,and went on to give a full identity proof: I am a BCCI player and I play with the Mumbai Indians. Please send someone to the hotel because the suitcase has 20 years of hard work locked in it.

The piece of luggage contained his India A jersey and training gears,and he got a man to mend his bag eventually,but Tiwary got a lesson that day on where he stood on the cricketing horizon.

After Monday,when Tiwary made it to the India squad for the upcoming Asia Cup in Sri Lanka,it would be a lot easier to convince people. Before coming here (to England) I was wondering how these 40 days with the India A side will go.

I was planning in my mind on how to play swing bowling. I was desperately hoping for success but what I got today was a huge surprise, a delighted Tiwary told The Indian Express from Leeds,where he substituted for pacer Sudeep Tyagi in India As tour opener.

Told that he was in MS Dhonis Lanka-bound side,Tiwary initially thought his team mates were pulling his leg. Coach Praveen Amre then confirmed the news.

Consistency pays

The selectors awarded the Jharkhand captain following his consistent performance in domestic cricket. Before making a name in IPL III for Mumbai Indians,Tiwary had scored 593 runs with an average of 98.83 in five games. He struck three centuries and two fifties,and was later named skipper of East Zone in Deodhar Trophy.

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But he said the stint with Mumbai Indians turned things around. What came with the blue jersey was limelight for the 20-year-old from Jamshedpur. Tiwary had never faced media before he joined Mumbai Indians. And he admitted that 20 runs in IPL gave him more coverage than a century in Ranji Trophy. I think the IPL performance worked for me it gave an idea about my game. People didnt recall my Ranji Trophy scores but they remember my IPL runs. I had always dreamt of being a part of the India side,and Im really happy to make it today.

Making it to the side under state mate Dhoni is a dream come true. His England trip cut short,its destination Sri Lanka for Tiwary. The small town boy would hope its the beginning of many such tours,and hopefully an end to frustrated calls to suitcase manufacturers if the lock acts funny again in future.