25-year-old Navdeep Saini has earned a lucky call for the upcoming historic Test match against Afghanistan which will be played in Bengaluru from this Thursday (June 14). Saini has credited Gautam Gambhir for getting this chance.
In December 2013, Saini made his domestic cricket debut for Delhi. Only a few times earlier, Navdeep came to know how to bowl with the Red SG Test ball as he had only played the tennis ball tournaments for earning pocket money around Rs. 250 to 500 per match.
Talking about his earlier journey, Saini has credited Gautam Gambhir to take him into this level. He said on that, “Gautam bhaiya told me, ‘Jaise tennis ball se dalta hai, waise hi dal. Koi tension nahi. Baaki sab theek ho jayega’ (Just bowl like you bowl with a tennis ball. Everything will fall in place). I did what he told me and today I am here because of him. I don’t know whenever I speak about Gautam Gambhir, I get emotional.”
Apart from Gambhir, Saini has also credited Ashish Nehra, Mithun Manhas and Sumit Narwal to support him.
Saini spoke on that, “I remember every tiny little thing. I know what Gautam bhaiya had to go through to convince selectors that I was good enough to play for Delhi. Not to forget Ashish Nehra, Mithun Manhas, Sumit Narwal, who all stood by me.”
Saini also claimed that Gambhir saw his potential to play for India before Saini himself realised that.
The right-arm pacer told, “In fact, after first few matches, he (Gambhir) said that if I kept working hard at every practice session, I will play for India. He saw it in me before I realised myself. Today when I look back about those days, I smile.”
Saini was the leading wicket-taker for Delhi in the 2017/18 Ranji Trophy as he picked up a total of 34 wickets in that tournament.
While the Indian pacer Mohammad Shami failed to pass the recent fitness test, Saini has earned a call-up into the squad for the upcoming one-off historic Test match against Afghanistan.
The Delhi pacer’s most recent top-level performance was in the 2017/18 Ranji Trophy semi-final against Bengal where he had picked up a total of seven wickets and had destroyed the opponent batting line-up. His impressive domestic performances helped to get the first IPL contract as he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from the 2018 IPL Auction for INR 3 crores. However, he didn’t play a game in his first IPL season.
Saini also credited Rahul Dravid for his valuable tips, while he also mentioned that spending time with Nehra in RCB was useful.
Saini said, “Before that performance against Bengal, I had already played for India A in South Africa. Rahul Dravid sir gave me a lot of valuable tips about variation consistency. Also spending time with Ashish Nehra a RCB during IPL was also of great help. My pace has increased and I have more control on my swing.”
Saini’s grandfather was a freedom fighter as he was a member of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind Fauj.
Talking about his grandfather, Saini said, “Dadaji is close to 100 years old but would never tire telling us stories of Netaji. And yes, he doesn’t miss any of my matches if it is live on TV.”
