Amid a prolonged wait for his maiden India Test call-up , Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi never lost faith, continuing to perform with the belief that his chance to represent the country would eventually arrive.
Result
That opportunity finally came when Nabi was drafted into the Indian squad as a replacement for injured pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka, beginning in Galle on Saturday (August 15).
Nabi, who played a key role in Jammu and Kashmir’s historic maiden Ranji Trophy title triumph last season, said he always believed that consistently putting in strong performances would eventually earn him a national call-up.
How the key figures performed
Saransh, who was a member of the Ranji Trophy-winning Madhya Pradesh team in 2021-2022 which beat the mighty Mumbai in the final, said he too kept the belief that his chance would come. “Yes, I had expectations. You just have to have patience, things will automatically come to you,” he added. “When I got the call, I was driving to the temple. I saw the call and messages in between.
But the mindset of a cricket player should be of performing and that the other people are watching,” Nabi told fellow uncapped player Saransh Jain in a video shared by the BCCI. “You have to have patience in Test cricket and if you want to play Test cricket for India, you have to have patience in that too,” the 33-year-old Saransh said. “My dad, who is a Ranji Trophy player, told me the same thing. That’s when I got to know that I was selected,” Saransh said. “When I joined the team, I didn’t feel any big difference as 70-80% of the players I have played cricket with, and I got mixed up quickly with them,” he said.