Sarandeep Singh: Prasanna is my idol

Sarandeep Singh has done nothing wrong after making his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Nagpur in November 2000 where he claimed six wickets. The young Punjabi off-spinner though finds himself out of the national team. Sarandeep Singh should have been the one to play against Australia but sadly due to a quirk of fate, Harbhajan Singh got the nod ahead of him. What followed in that series is a part of cricket folklore.

Having said that, no credit should be taken away from Sarandeep Singh, for he has done what he is supposed to do - claim wickets. National selector Madan Lal is more than impressed with this young bowler's performance in the domestic circuit, "Sarandeep Singh should play for India very soon, the boy has taken a lot of wickets, what else can we ask him to do?"

Earlier this year, Sarandeep bowled exceedingly well in the Irani Trophy against Baroda claiming eight wickets. He has followed that up by picking wickets in good numbers, playing for his adopted state New Delhi during the current Ranji season; the shift from Punjab necessitated as he is employed by ONGC which is based in the Indian capital. The young spinner is also excited by the opportunity this gives him to be with the legendary Bishen Singh Bedi.

Sarandeep Singh, who flew in very late on the eve of the three-day match against England in Hyderabad, picked up five English wickets giving away 98 runs on day one, a feat witnessed by the five national selectors. In an exclusive interview to CricInfo, Sarandeep said, "I was very nervous flying in to Hyderabad, I did not have any chance to prepare for such an important match in my career. I knew that nothing other than performance would do me any good in my efforts to make a comeback into the Indian team.

"I kept thinking about it, planning how to bowl against the English batsmen. I decided it would be a good thing to bowl a good line, as I had not seen the wicket. When I saw the pitch on the match-day, it looked a good pitch for batting. There was a little bit of turn and bounce early on as the pitch was fresh.

"Soon it became very easy for the batsmen, the pitch was definitely slowing down and I had to think of new strategies. I tried changing my line a bit and also varying my pace. You can get easy wickets in domestic cricket by bowling on one side of the wicket but against international batsmen, you have to do that extra bit. They don't give away their wickets that cheaply."

Sarandeep was thankful to Board President's XI skipper Jacob Martin, who bowled him in short spells. Martin also made sure that his bowlers bowled from both ends, and by the end of the first day Sarandeep had claimed five wickets while Murali Kartik had three.

When asked about how he felt being left in the wilderness after a good debut, Sarandeep replied in a voice filled with sadness, "Really nothing is in my hands. I had hoped to play against Australia, but then it is all for the selectors, all I can do is keep giving good performance and hope for the best."

"I always send my best wishes to Harbhajan Singh for he is representing the country. I believe in working hard and performing well. I am working on my batting too; if I could contribute 30-40 runs in the lower order, it will brighten my chances of winning an India cap. It is going to be a challenge to bowl with Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, they are such great bowlers. I will give more than my 100 percent for India," he added.

About his stint at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, he said, "I had never seen Erapalli Prasanna before I went to the NCA. It was a great experience for me to spend time with him. He taught me about the importance of bowling on different types of wickets, to be mentally prepared always as most of the game is actually played in the mind. I learned new tricks and understood the importance of having a strategy bowling to different batsmen. I was taught to never bowl what the batsman thinks that you are going to bowl. Prasanna is my idol."

Sarandeep Singh might soon be playing for India, if one goes by what Madan Lal says. Given the fact that the tracks in India will favour spinners and the distinct inability of most of the English batsmen to tackle spin, the coming days should finally bring good news for this humble lad from Amritsar.