New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the squads for the umpcoming tour of the West Indies.
The interesting player in the team is young pacer Navdeep Saini who are drafted in both ODI and T20I squads. Not many know about the young pacer.
Saini’s journey to the Indian team has been a roller coaster one. Till 2013, he didn’t play leather-ball cricket; he wasn’t part of any serious age-group cricket either. Saini used to play tennis-ball cricket in local tournaments in Karnal with his earnings being Rs 200 per match.
Former Delhi medium-pacer Sumit Narwal saw Saini bowl in the Karnal Premier League — a tournament that Narwal used to conduct — and was impressed with his pace. Saini’s next stop was the Delhi nets where he had quite an impact on Gautam Gambhir, who was often beaten for pace.
Gambhir would arrange a pair of boots for Saini and ask him to be a regular at the Delhi nets. This was Saini’s initial inclusion into Delhi cricket. Saini had Gambhir’s backing, and the former Delhi captain fought with the state selectors to get the pacer in Delhi’s Ranji Trophy team.
Ultimately, Gambhir’s efforts paid off and Saini was selected in the Delhi team in the 2013-14 season. Since then, Saini hasn’t looked back. He helped Delhi reach the Ranji Trophy final in 2017-18 where he finished as the team’s leading wicket-taker with 34 in eight games.
Over the last six years, Saini has been a consistent performer in the domestic circuit; and during the 2019 IPL he impressed one and all with his ability to clock speeds above 150kph. He has also excelled for India A in the ongoing one day series against West Indies.
“Whenever I speak about Gambhir, I get emotional. In fact, after my first few matches with the Delhi team, he said that if I keep working hard at every practice session, I will play for India. He saw it in me before I realised myself. When I look back, I smile,” Saini said.