Two young blokes who performed brilliantly during the ODI series between India A and Bangladesh A have been roped for the ODI and T20 squad of Team India that will take on the big lads of South Africa from 2 October. They are Gurkeerat Singh and Sreenath Aravind.
Singh has found a place in the ODI squad and Aravind has made it into the T20 squad of India senior team. Both the players were in a state of shock when they came to know about the news after India A clinched the ODI series against Bangladesh A on Sunday.
"Unexpected this is. I was just thinking about the India A game. I was not thinking about this [selection]," Aravind told reporters at a press conference in Bangalore on Sunday.
Gurkeerat was also taken aback when he heard that he will be a part of Team India ODI squad against South Africa during the upcoming marathon series. He too, like Aravind, did not expect the call-up. "I think it's the same here. As I told you in the previous press conference, I don't think about future and I take every single game on its merit. Great opportunity for a youngster like me to play against a very good side. From the moment I got to know, I've been in a bit of shock, but it is a very good moment," added Gurkeerat.
Gurkeerat was in sublime form against Bangladesh A and so was Aravind with the white ball. Gurkeerat was also Punjab's highest run-scorer in the last Ranji Trophy season where he went on to pile up 677 runs in 14 innings at an average of above 50.0.
Aravind on the other hand, was Karnataka's second highest wicket-taker with 42 scalps to his name at an astonishing average of 17.42. The two players also used the platform of the Indian Premier League (IPL) quite well and no wonder their promotions came pretty quickly.
Aravind stated that he learnt a lot from Australia's speedster Mitchell Starc who bowled alongside him in the IPL for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Wasim Akram and Zaheer Khan are the Karnataka boy's role models. "I learnt from Starc how to develop myself as a bowler. I have learnt how to overcome the batsman from Starc, what they are thinking, Plan A, Plan B, bowling over-the-wicket yorkers and how to attack the pads or wicket, so it's been valuable," Aravind said.
Meanwhile, Gurkeerat follows India skipper MS Dhoni when it comes to swinging the willow. The Punjab-lad could relate to Dhoni's style of batting.
"We bat in almost the same batting position. I relate to his game a lot, and whenever I watch India play, I focus a lot on his batting because I get to learn a lot," Gurkeerat added.
