The Indian squad for the West Indies tour has been announced on 3 August. Under the leadership of Virat Kohli, India will play a T20 International(T20I) and One Day International (ODI) series of three matches each.

For the same, the Indian team was selected on Sunday. In the limited-overs series, Navdeep Saini has received his maiden India call up. Saini will don the Indian jersey for the first time if he gets the opportunity to feature in the Playing XI.

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This is the same bowler who with his extra bit of pace and bounce from the pitch had troubled the likes of Shane Watson in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Earned Rs 250 per match

26-year-old Saini played for Delhi in Ranji Trophy Cricket. However, he started his first-class career in 2013. Prior to that he only played Tennis Ball Cricket tournaments. At that time he used to earn a stipend of Rs 250-500 per match.

When he first got a chance to feature in Delhi’s Ranji Team he was more surprised than happy. This was one of the first times he had held a brand new red leather ball in his hand. Former Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir helped him during that phase of his career.

In an interview with PTI, Navdeep had once said how Gambhir adviced him to bowl exactly the same way he used to bowl with the tennis ball and assured him how everything else will take care of itself.

Navdeep credited his success to Gautam Gambhir stating how Gambhir urged the selectors to fast track his selection in the Ranji Team and how Gambhir had more belief in him than Saini himself.

King of pace

Having picked up 120 wickets in 43 First-class matches, Navdeep is known for his pace. In the Ranji Trophy semifinals against Bengal when Navdeep hit the 145 Kilometers per hour mark consistently, many batsmen struggled to even put bat on the ball.

He is also known for bowling long spells in domestic cricket- having an experience of bowling 10-12 overs in one spell regularly.

Had been a part of Test team but could not play

Saini was called to be part of the Indian Test team in 2018. He was part of the lone Test against Afghanistan but failed to be a part of the Playing XI.

India’s squad for T20I series: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (Wicket-keeper), Krunal Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini

India’s squad for ODI series: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (Wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini