Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar has moved a step closer to fulfilling his dream of donning the national cap as he has been named in India A squad for unofficial Test matches against New Zealand A. The right-arm pacer has scalped 100 wickets in domestic cricket and is now raring to perform at the ‘A’ level.
Speaking to PTI after earning his maiden India A call-up, Mukesh recalled the day he attended a trial in Bengal and there has been no looking back for him since then. During a medical test during his early days, Mukesh was found to be malnourished and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly came to his aid back then.
Ganguly was Cricket Association of Bengal’s president till 2019 and the former India captain arranged for Mukesh’s stay at Eden Gardens. During the same time, Mukesh was given a proper diet.
“I was youngest of the six but we had severe financial problems. It was Rano sir, who spoke to then CAB secretary Sourav Ganguly, who arranged for my stay at Eden Gardens and my diet was taken care of,” he told PTI.
“I had come through the ranks having played Buchi Babu and then waited for my turn. The endeavor would be to keep working hard.”
Mukesh has drawn the interest of the national selectors and performances for India A could see him coming into national contention.
He will be playing under the leadership of Priyank Panchal, who has been retained as the captain of India A. Priyank has been part of the Test team previously but is uncapped.
Kuldeep Yadav (capped in all formats), Ruturaj Gaikwad (capped in T20Is), Prasidh Krishna (capped in ODIs), Rahul Chahar (capped in ODIs and T20Is) and Umran Malik (capped in T20Is) are among international cricketers who will be plying their trade for India A against New Zealand A.
India A squad: Priyank Panchal (Captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Tilak Varma, KS Bharat (wk), Upendra Yadav (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Saurabh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar, Yash Dayal, Arzan Nagwaswalla
