MUMBAI: The Team India will have a new Malayalee presence during the upcoming West Indies tour. The BCCI selectors led by former skipper K.Srikant had on Wednesday included Mumbai Malayalee and all rounder Abhishek Nayar in the 16-member squad.
A left hand batsman and right-arm medium- pacer, the 25-year-old Abhishek has his roots in Thiruvananthapuram as both his parents Mohan and Lekha hail from there. Abhishek was born in Secundrabad in Andhra Pradesh and spent best part of his life in Mumbai.
Speaking to Express over phone from his flat in Pavai in the city, an elated Abhishek said, “My hard work along with the prayers of my family, well wishers and friends helped me win this laurel. My attempt now will be to retain the confidence bestowed on me by the selectors and the entire cricket fans of the country. I owed a special thanks to my coach Naresh Soori.” Abhishek came to Mumbai’s rescue in the first-class matches many times in the recent past. He was instrumental in the success of Mumbai in Ranji matches in 2006.
The first-class century first eluded him when he made 97 against Gujarat in 2006.
But later he scored a spectacular 152 against Karachi Urban in the Mohammad Nissar Trophy.
In the final of the 2008-09, Ranji Trophy he made a vital 99 that helped set up Mumbai’s 38th triumph.
In 2007, he made his T20 debut for the Mumbai team in a match against Baroda. In 2008, Abhishek was purchased by the Reliance Industries owned - Mumbai Indians team to play in the IPL tournament under the captaincy of Sachin Tendulkar.
He played in 14 matches during the tournament and scored a maximum of 45, which was against Chennai Super Kings.
He amassed 206 runs during the IPL matches and also took four catches and a wicket.