‘Could not believe it when I got a cap’
An impressive India debut under his belt, fast bowler Navdeep Saini said he could not believe himself when he was handed the India cap to play in the first T20 International against the West Indies here.
The 26-year-old Saini starred in India’s 4-wicket win by taking three wickets for 17 runs on Saturday. He was adjudged player-of-the-match for his impressive bowling display which saw India restrict West Indies to 95 for 9.
India made a heavy weather of the modest run chase before pulling off a 4-wicket win with 2.4 over to spare.
“When I received the India cap (on Saturday morning), I could not believe that today is the day which I was waiting for. I am very happy to make the debut for India,” Saini told his senior pace colleague Bhuvneshwar Kumar in an interview posted on BCCI Twitter handle.
Saini got two of his three wickets -- that of Nicholas Puran and Shimron Hetmyer -- in two balls in the fifth over of the West Indies innings. But he could not get a hattrick as Rovman Powell left alone Saini’s next delivery.
Asked what was in his mind while bowling the hat-trick ball, Saini said, “My confidence was low initially as I was having pressure of making the debut. The first wicket released the pressure. Then, when I got the second wicket my confidence increased and I felt like I was playing a normal match.
“When I was to bowl the hattrick ball, I felt like ‘it is something which I have been seeing others do, it is happening to me’. Then, I was focussing on how to take the wicket,” said the Haryana-born Saini who plays for Delhi in domestic circuit.
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