Man on the move: Sumit Narwal gets on the fast lane at last

Back to the laptop. On an idle evening a week ago that was,of course,spent surfing cricket websites the fast bowler from Delhi chanced upon an interesting story. The headline was about Gautam Gambhir and Viru paaji Sehwag being recalled, says Narwal. It caught my eye,as any news on cricket does,and I clicked on it to read further. Inside,right at the botttom of this story on India A squads,I saw another familiar name in the one-day side.

Such was the manner in which Narwal found out about his first ever call-up to an Indian side. Considering the time I spend on these websites,I suppose it couldnt be any other way, he says,chuckling. No different from finding out from a friend.

For a man who invests as much time as he does reading up on crickets current affairs,its rather surprising that he hadnt ever heard of Kirk Edwards. The star batsman in the West Indies A side he would be up against in three unofficial one-dayers in Bangalore. The man who scored a century on debut against India in Dominica in 2011. The man who scored more runs than Sachin Tendulkar on West Indiess Test tour of India later that year.

Anyway,that didnt stop him from dismissing Edwards at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday,his first scalp for India.

What a feeling that was. Celebrating a wicket in the India blue, he says. And the wicket of a man who,I came to learn,is a proven international cricketer. That was not his first off a player of pedigree either. In January this year,Narwal cleaned up Alastair Cook as Delhi beat England XI,shortly before the one-day series. That,according to Narwal,had felt closest to being part of an international match. And when it happened for real on Sunday,he willed himself to make it count.

In a match dominated by the batsmen in Bangalore,31-year old Narwal was quite easily the tidiest bowler from both attacks. And his figures of 2/28 the best bowling figures of the match accounted for first Edwards and later Ashley Nurse,the top scorer for WI a wicket that wrapped up the match.

Relying mostly on control,rather than pace or swing,Narwal was the only non-part-time bowler from the Indian attack to go under five runs an over. The rest conceded over six. I keep it quite simple in my head,to be honest, he says. If the captain has set an off-side heavy field,then I tried to keep the ball away from the batsmans pads.

Simplicity has forever been his mantra. And he has chanted his way to becoming his state side Delhis go-to man during the past few seasons. In the 2010-11 Ranji Trophy,he was not only Delhis best with 30 wickets,but his 7/43 against Railways was the finest bowling figures by anyone that season. And last season,he was again Delhis highest wicket-taker with 32 dismissals. This last season in particular meant a lot to me,because I missed 2011-12 by tearing a muscle in my bowling shoulder. So to come back and do well again was a good sign.

Having returned older,stronger and wiser,Narwal keeps his ambitions in check when asked if he sees himself playing for the national side sometime in the future. There are plenty of good fast bowlers around, he says,non-committal. And my plans are a lot more immediate. And what are they? Focus on doing better in the remaining two India A matches. Go online and check out Kirk Edwards..