KOCHI:“The news came out of the blue. I still can’t believe that I have made it to the India squad,” said Basil Thampi, as he was over the moon after the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) broke to him the news of his inclusion for the T20I series against Sri Lanka.
An India cap is a young cricketer’s holy grail, and Thampi had dreamt of playing for the country. A few experts had predicted the bowler’s ascension to the national level ever since he had made a name for himself at the state level.
A string of good outings in the domestic circuit and a good IPL season with Gujarat Lions — where he took 11 wickets — helped the 24-year-old get a favourable decision.
When the news was conveyed to the young pacer — who had arrived in Surat on Sunday, ahead of Kerala’s first-ever Ranji Trophy quarterfinal on Thursday — he had to grapple with words due to the excitement.
“I came to know about the selection during the team meeting. I was speechless,” he said.
Though Thampi’s debut IPL numbers were not great, it was the way in which he handled big-hitters that earned him plaudits.
Thampi’s toe-crushing yorkers soon became a talking point, and he was adjudged as IPL’s Best Emerging Player.When scribes reached him soon after BCCI’s announced his selection, Thampi was clueless as to which squad he was selected for. “South Africa or Sri Lanka?” he asked.
The moment it dawned on him that his services were sought for the shortest format, he knew what was expected of him.
“I know what a pace bowler should be doing in T20s. I was practising my stock deliveries, including yorkers, and that will be helpful in the coming days.”Though Thampi has been busy preparing for Kerala’s upcoming clash with Vidarbha, the quickie has never ceased working on his variations in the nets. Credit for that goes to Kerala bowling coach Tinu Yohannan.
Yohannan has religiously been making Thampi fine-tune his yorkers and slower balls in between routine training sessions. There where occasions when the latter himself questioned the logic behind it. “I used to ask him why we were doing it. He said that I should be polishing my skills. It’s those training sessions that are going to help me against Sri Lanka,” Thampi observed.
Yohannan, meanwhile, said the extra practice was done to add a cutting edge to Thampi’s deliveries. “His strengths are yorkers, bouncers, and slower balls. So I wanted him to fine-tune them. I knew he would be getting an India call-up soon.”
Squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat.
shan.as@newindianexpress.com