For someone living in Srirampur, how did Mumbai actually come about?
I had finished my 12th and I had requested my father to take me to Mumbai during the vacation so that I could learn or join some coaching class. He took me there and we were roaming around in the Mumbai maidans. Fortunately, we went to the National Cricket Club and met Sudhir Naik. I stayed there for two months. I told him I was a fast bowler and he told me, ‘Okay, let me have a look.’ I did two practice sessions and after that he was convinced. He asked me, ‘Are you going to be in Mumbai?’ He told me it was common for people from small towns to stay here, and after they put an effort to develop them, they again went back. He did not want that to happen with me. I told him, “No, I will not go back, if you are showing such confidence in me, I should continue.’ But in Mumbai I was only playing normal cricket. So the transformation came about at the MRF Pace Foundation. I joined the MRF Pace Foundation in ’98. When I worked here, saw the facilities, that was the time when I realised how m
