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Panel of Selectors
What a shocker, I didn?t get an aisle seat and in fact I got a middle one, sitting next to Harbajan and the new boy in the team Pragyan Ojha. He is a left arm spinner and could make a useful addition to the side. I haven?t seen much of him but know from Chappell our coach that he is incredibly talented and for a 20 year old he has serious potential. Well we are on our way to the West Indies and the world cup.
Finally, the air hostesses come round with the trolley and I get a water. Im not eating much at the moment as I am on a diet, obviously Harbajan isn?t and he orders a coke and two pots of Pringles. I give him a quick nudge and tell him to ?sort it out? and stop being so fat, he laughs and returns to reading his magazine. I look over to Ojha again and see that he is actually reading a book and to more of my surprise it was Monty Panesar?s autobiography. He doesn?t even notice my gaze and I decide to leave it and maybe talk to him later.
Me Arriving to fly to West Indies
So back to my diary, I have had a good season by all means and India have had a very good one. We have toured Bangladesh, South Africa and New Zealand came to us. We didn?t lose a test series and won two of the three ODI series. I played well scoring runs against all sides and especially enjoyed a purple patch against South Africa where I hit 445 runs in 9 innings at an average of 89. Overall I felt India played good cricket and I can say we are going into this tour with serious potential to do well.
Our Group should be simple enough to qualify through although I know after touring Bangladesh they have great spirit and will not want to give in easily. First we face Bermuda, then Sri Lanka and finally Bangladesh. With Sehwag on form throughout the summer tests and One dayers I am confident he will be one of the most dangerous players in this world cup.
My Season So Far
I return to Ojha, this time I decide to talk to him and gently tap him on the shoulder. He takes a few seconds turns down his page lowers his book and smiles at me and says ?yes?
I look back and ask about Monty?s autobiography and why he is reading it. He looks back and begins to talk about how the Left Arm Spinner is an idol, how he can be looked upon as a great with the way he goes about the game and most importantly the way he goes about life. I am very surprised but more so when he tells me what is says about me being his idol. I don?t really like to think of myself as special or different but I had heard about Monty?s respect for me and I also regard him highly. We spoke on and on and eventually the subject changed to me, my career how I felt as a 14 year old playing first class cricket and even more so as a 16 year old playing test match cricket. He told me how he had grown up with me as his idol, how he pretended to be me in the backyard, the parks and in games when playing as a youngster. After this conversation I sat back and just closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
?Sachin, Sachin? It was Rahul and I had obviously been asleep, but it seemed so real, I aksed Dravid if we had lost to England and I must have been quite loud as the people around us began to say things like ?We better not do? and ?What are you talking about Sachin? I smiled and said it was just a dream. As we left there were media and fans beyond belief. I decided to just relax and after a bit if hassle we got onto a bus and drove to the hotel. With 3 days until the first game I just hope my dream doesn?t become reality.
Indian World Cup Fixtures
VS Bermuda
VS Sri Lanka
VS Bangladesh
Super Eights
Guys This is a start and i promise i will do this as i really enjoy it....please post thoughts and advice the more response the more i will update
. I hope Leverock can pull out some magic against India
