Journeyman Mukesh Kumar proud to have earned maiden India call-up for South Africa ODIs

Mukesh Kumar has earned his maiden India call-up for the upcoming ODI series against South Africa.

When Mukesh Kumar was in the Rest of India’s team bus on the way back to the hotel after the second day’s play of the Irani Cup, he got a notification on his phone: he was added to the Indian team’s WhatsApp group for the South Africa ODI series.

Within minutes, he started getting congratulatory messages on social media and messaging apps from his fans, supporters and well-wishers. The first thing he did was to call “my mother and inform her”. That was followed with calls to those who had stood by him through thick and thin, including his coaches “Joy sir (Joydeep Mukherjee, former Bengal batter) and Rano sir (Ranadeb Bose, former Bengal swinger and bowling coach).”

Minutes before leaving the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium, Mukesh and Umran Malik were involved in a prolonged discussion with national selector Sunil Joshi. Didn’t Joshi tell him? He didn’t. “He waited for the official announcement and then called me to congratulate,” says Mukesh.

It’s been almost three hours since he has received a call-up that virtually every young Indian aspires for at some point in his or her early life. Sitting in the hotel’s lobby in a white tee and black shorts, what is on his mind at that precise moment?

“Honestly, I am just thinking about how to bowl tomorrow and my plan and my team’s (Rest of India) plan to wrap the game up tomorrow. Yes, I am extremely happy with the India call-up but for now, am focused on tomorrow’s game,” Mukesh says, in a soft tone, contrary to how his balls zip past batters.

Your immediate feeling after reading this would be it’s a typical cliche used by sportspersons to downplay their achievement. But one can sense Mukesh, just over a week shy of turning 29, is being genuine.