When Naman Dhir first saw a congratulatory message on social media after he got his maiden India call-up for the upcoming ODI series against the West Indies, he casually dismissed it as spam. But when he finally opened the official team announcement post, the Faridkot-based Dhir froze in disbelief and needed ten minutes just to comprehend that his lifelong dream had finally come true. “Our Sher-e-Punjab tournament in Punjab was over, so I was there. Actually, I had no idea that there would be a call-up or anything like that. So I got a message on Instagram congratulating me. I ignored it; I thought it might be something else.
When Naman Dhir first saw a congratulatory message on social media after he got his maiden India call-up for the upcoming ODI series against the West Indies, he casually dismissed it as spam. But when he finally opened the official team announcement post, the Faridkot-based Dhir froze in disbelief.
He had a lot of emotions coming out,” Dhir said in a video posted by the BCCI on its social media handles on Saturday. I mean, I’ve been selected here. But yes, it was a surreal feeling. First of all, I called my father; he was very happy. Dhir’s path to the national dressing room has been defined by a never-give-up attitude. “Every kid who starts playing cricket has a dream to represent India, and to play a match for India. So, I guess for me, it’s still a dream come true. I feel like I’m living my dream. The old Naman was quitting at one point, but the new Naman will say that you should keep working hard with a pure heart. I represented Punjab in the U-16s. After that, I got a breakthrough and scored runs in the U-25s, and then I was called up for the Ranji Trophy. “All the legends in the dressing room, Virat bhai, Rohit bhai, even Shubman and everyone- I grew up watching them. I started playing cricket after watching them.
“But I opened that post, and after that, when I saw my name, I couldn’t process it for 10 minutes. After representing Punjab at the U-16 level, he endured nearly seven years of complete oblivion, finding himself off the radar before a breakthrough season in the U-25 tournament reignited his career, leading to a Ranji Trophy debut and subsequently an IPL contract with Mumbai Indians. “If you’re honest with your work and your hard work, you’ll get a 100 percent result. After that, I didn’t play anything for 6-7 years, till U-25s. The memories of the 2011 World Cup, everyone’s, the Champions Trophy 2013.
So sharing the dressing room with them was a big deal for me,” he said.
