Story Knock Knock: India Calling!

Prithvi

10 years at Planetcricket
India
RCB...
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Oct 5, 2008
Location
Hyderabad, India.
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*Its my long pending dream to complete one tournament in a career story, and this time, I'm picking a short one. I hope I complete it!*

It was a forgetful Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy for Karnataka and our coach had ruled off that neither of us will make it into Indian ICC World T20 squad. I had decent figures with bat though. I had scored 115 runs in 4 matches, with a strike rate around 140.

Once the tournament finished, I head back home (Hyderabad), with no hope of any Indian call for the coming T20 season. All I was expecting was some IPL Franchisee call up, for a base price.

-X-
Cut few days, I was surprised to an Indian call up for series against Australia, which rested Indian big names for World Cup. I was surprised, but I was sure I was going to carry drinks because as a player, I knew the entire series was planned just to give some much needed T20 match practice for players who are taking part in ICC World T20.

Anyways, there were some celebrations in my home, and my brother was in plans on coming down from abroad just to see me play for nation. I received official e-mail about my selection and I was expected to reach Bengaluru by February 6 at 08.00 hours, the venue for the brief training camp.

The training camp would be for two days, and we were scheduled to fly to Pune for the first T20i.

-X-
Flying to Bengaluru was one of the nicest options and Air Costa had sponsored a ticket for me. I choose to drive, considering the last game of the tournament was at Bengaluru and I can easily park my car at my relative's garage.

I drove down to Bengaluru on February 5, and it was a decent 8 hour drive for 550 Kilometers, with three pit stops for some delicious food.

I reached the destination, and checked into the hotel. Knowing I would be parking my vehicle, they offered complimentary parking until we finished our, which was a nice and helpful gesture by them. Otherwise, I had to drive in traffic for almost 2 hours to keep my vehicle.

-X-
The Schedule for the coming week:

February 6: Training Camp.
February 7: Training Camp.
February 8: Flying to Pune and conclusion of Training Camp.
February 9: India v Australia 1st T20i at Pune.
February 10: Flying to Hyderabad and day off.
February 11: Practice Camp.
February 12: India v Australia, 2nd T20i at Hyderabad.
February 13: Flying to Bengaluru.
February 14: Practice Camp and India v Australia, 3rd T20i at Bengaluru.
 

Aravind.

ICC Board Member
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Great start, looking forward for future updates.
 

Gaurav_7

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I doubt anyone read it. So which team are you playing against, Sri Lanka or Australia?
 

Prithvi

10 years at Planetcricket
India
RCB...
Joined
Oct 5, 2008
Location
Hyderabad, India.
Profile Flag
India
After I checked into the hotel, I realized that I was the second person to arrive at the camp. Everyone were scheduled to arrive either late night or the next day and Ravi Shastry was already at the stadium. I texted Yuvraj when he was coming, and he told that he was checking in and he will be there by around 23.00 hours. I asked if someone else were coming alongside him, and he replied there are around 8 players coming together.

I head to the stadium and I reported to my manager, who was at the nets with some junior Karnataka players doing some practice. I went and shook hands with the manager, Ravi Shastri followed by KSCA President Anil Kumble. I had met Kumble many times in the past but him being my favorite cricketer, every time I meet him, I always touch his feet for his blessings. We had some discussions thrown into the mix, especially about the way things went wrong for Karnataka that season. We didn't play to our quality, that was quite something we had to accept, but this discussion mostly involved the inputs from me and Anil. Ravi Shastry was listening to our discussion. While we were discussing my wickets, Ravi Shastry chipped in, giving me inputs on how I could have played those wicket balls and possibly survived. After this, Ravi handed me the file, which contained our schedule for the coming two days.
-X-​
Couple of my Karnataka team mates started making plans to meet up in the WhatsApp group, and it was decided that we would be meeting up at the Shiro in the UB City mall. I texted Ravi about this and he was fine with the plan. Two more people confirmed their presence. I drove down to the place by 20.45 and surprisingly, everyone were there at the correct time. Owing to the traffic issues, I thought they started early to make sure they reach on time. Of course, couple of them stayed in the same part of city, so it shouldn't have been be a problem for them.

We had spent a quality time, pulling our legs about our notorious performances, especially about the way we got hit for six or the way we got out. And very soon, they started pulling my leg for making it into Indian squad. Robbie was at his peaks, and at one point, they were even hitting me hard.
-X-​
I bid them a good bye and by the time I returned, I realized that there were few other players who joined. Although we were not supposed to meet, players who already checked in had a unofficial meeting and I joined. Yuvraj Singh kicked my a** with his bat as soon as I went to his room, which was the meeting venue and slapped me for perfectly completing his catch in the Syed Mustaq Ali tournament. Everyone were laughing and I told I was learning how to ball to take his wicket. Various discussions were thrown into mix and I wasn't aware about most of the things being discussed. at around 03.00 hours, some other members arrived, and all of us greeted them. More episodes of bullying and leg pulling continued, as it was a great atmosphere.

I head to sleep by 4 because we were supposed to report at 11 AM the next day. I bid everyone a good night & had a sound sleep.
 

Aravind.

ICC Board Member
India
Mumbai Indians
PlanetCricket Award Winner
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Great update & it's different from other stories. Watching this thread.
 

Targaryen

You-Know-Who
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Online Cricket Games Owned
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Good one. Enjoyed reading…
btw when is the next update?
 

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