Monday will surely be an unforgettable day for Saurabh Tiwary. Not because he took the field at Headingley to replace injured Sudeep Tyagi during India-A's tour opener against Yorkshire, but because of his maiden call-up in the India team. Tiwary, the Jharkhand southpaw, didn't have much to do except watch his India-A teammates pile on the runs against Yorkshire on the first two days of the 3-day tie. But it all changed on Monday.
To begin with, he had to replace injured Tyagi on the field at the start of the day. A little later, he saw Tyagi shouting to congratulate him for his selection in India's squad for the Asia Cup, to be played in Sri Lanka from June 15.
“It is a morale-booster for the whole team,” India-A coach Pravin Amre told Hindustan Times on Monday. “Everyone is very happy for Saurabh. He really deserves it.”
Ever since returning from Malaysia as member of India's triumphant Under-19 World Cup squad in 2008, Tiwary has been consistently improving as a batsman. Known for his power-hitter just like his idol Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the 20-year-old showed in the third edition of the Indian Premier League that he had indeed learnt the art of building an innings at a young age.
Hailing from Dhoni's state and sporting a similar hairdo that the India skipper had when he broke into the Indian team, Tiwary had to do something special to emerge from Dhoni's shadow. Riding on the back of a fruitful domestic season, Tiwary excelled for Mumbai Indians in IPL-III, emerging as the highest uncapped run-getter in the tournament.
{{/usCountry}}Hailing from Dhoni's state and sporting a similar hairdo that the India skipper had when he broke into the Indian team, Tiwary had to do something special to emerge from Dhoni's shadow. Riding on the back of a fruitful domestic season, Tiwary excelled for Mumbai Indians in IPL-III, emerging as the highest uncapped run-getter in the tournament.
{{/usCountry}}“He has matured a lot in quick time,” Amre, who has followed Tiwary's progress ever since his stints at the National Cricket Academy as a junior cricketer, said. “He seems to have realised his potential as a cricketer. More importantly, he now knows what needs to be done in the middle to live up to his potential.” After a fruitful IPL campaign, Tiwary had said that his “next target” was to break into the India-A squad. Now that he has gone one step further, it remains to be seen if he can make use of whatever opportunity he gets at the highest level.