Mumbai & Ahmedabad October 27: While having breakfast on the morning of the team selection for the Pakistan series, Praveen Kumar didn’t quite have butterflies in his empty stomach. Nine wickets from two games made him upbeat but when asked if this was his big day, the voice on the phone sounded disinterested. “Agar ek 50 hota to baat ban sakti thi,” he had said, dismissing the question.

The 21-year-old son of a head constable from Meerut had never got things on a platter and that’s the reason he thought the big break wouldn’t come so easily, forget so soon. By evening the tireless performer of the domestic circuit had been awarded with a place in the national squad for the first two one-dayers.

The pinch-hitter and military medium pacer was the second all-rounder in the team after Irfan Pathan. While his acquaintances call him ‘PK’, his close friends in the UP Ranji team has named him bhagad—the bull. A name that he has earned after bowling 30 to 35 overs per day on the dead tracks in the harshest of summers.

Rahat Ilahi, Praveen’s mate from Meerut who has represented the state in age cricket, recalls his famous friend’s early days. “He can do anything. He is really hard-working and can play under extreme conditions. I remember once he bowled about 30 overs with the temperature around 45 degrees,” he said.

Ilahi is also aware of the hardships Praveen faced off the field. Though father Sakat Singh was always supportive of his cricket-playing son, finances were a problem.

Praveen’s Ranji teammates know him as a die-hard Amitabh Bachchan fan and a character in the dressing room. Wicket-keeper Aamir Khan, who is often his roommate, can’t stop laughing when he speaks about his experience. “All the teammates converge into our room after play is over. Mohammad Kaif, our captain, is the first to reach. It is a circus out there with the spotlight on Praveen,” he said.

The 21-year-old Praveen said in Ahmedabad: “I was hoping, after all, the world runs on hope. I have been performing well for the past two years. It has always been my dream.” Playing in the Challenger Series, Praveen was watching television when his elder brother called from Meerut to give him the news.

“It would be a tough series against Pakistan. They are a big team. I’ll try to do well against them. I am happy with my last two performances. I was just concentrating on doing well. I worked hard and God has rewarded me,” he said.

Talking about how tough it was to continue on his dream path, he said: “It’s tough to play cricket if you are from a small town. There is no facility, no guidance, no exposure. I come from a middle-class background, a joint family and they would always ask me to leave cricket and concentrate on my studies. When I did badly in my Class X examinations, my mother beat me up. But I never gave up cricket.”

And he believes that he can do justice to the all-rounder tag he has now. “I will try hard to play well and justify that. I would like to cement my place in the team as an all-rounder.”