Work experience

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The ground where S Badrinath learned to play cricket does not exist anymore.

When Badri was seven years old, and a typical, hyperactive child, he was forever playing tennis-ball cricket in the compound. His father, V Subramaniam, thought there was a better way to channel all that energy. He took Badri to Giri, a coach who plied his craft at the Corporation Ground in Nungambakkam, Chennai. When Giri told Subramaniam that the boy could play, it set wheels in motion. "My father got it into his head that I should one day play for India," Badri told Cricinfo recently, after he was picked in the one-day squad to play against Australia.

In Baroda, where the fifth ODI was to be played, Badri had just received his India kit, and reflected on the call-up. "I think it has come at the right time, personally and from the team's point of view," he said. "Personally, because I've been in prime form, getting runs in both forms of the game. Another way of looking at it is that many players in the Indian team may not be in the side much longer, or may not want to play one-day cricket in a year or so."

Badri was looking at the real possibility of not getting a game though he had been picked in the squad. But he insisted the experience was worth it. "From the first practice session, it's a different feeling. Sharing a dressing room with Sachin, Sourav, Rahul and all these players, it's a different kind of feeling. It motivates you more. You want to stay there and play alongside these world-class cricketers for a while."

As it turned out, India lost the early games, the rotation policy never quite kicked in, and Badri didn't get a game. But he's used to disappointments. For two seasons now he has been scoring runs at every stage - in the Ranji Trophy, in domestic one-dayers, for India A. Somehow the call from the national selectors never came. Yet Badri did not once complain. Instead, he went about scoring more runs.

"You are always bound to hope and expect to get a call-up, because it's such a big thing to play for the country. I was always hopeful," he said. "As a cricketer who is performing consistently, you are bound to expect something when there's a selection meeting. But I just wanted to have some cricket to play all the time, even if I was not getting a call-up for the country. I've always looked at it that way. What's in my hands is to do well in all the cricket I play. Everything else is beyond my control. If I'm upset about not being picked, or let this stay in my mind, I wouldn't do well in whatever cricket I was playing. I just think about playing my cricket."

When the television cameras flocked to Badri soon after he was selected, the words "dream come true" rolled off his lips easily. But there's been plenty of hard work along the way. He's had to fight for his place at every stage, and the manner in which he has consistently pounded out the runs makes this elevation to the highest level only a natural progression.

"Yes, you're right. In my case this is true," he said when it was pointed out that success hadn't quite come overnight for him. "I'm not someone who has jumped from Ranji Trophy straight into the Indian team. I've played every grade of cricket and come through the ranks. I've worked hard to get my place in the side. It's not like I've been plucked out of nowhere at a young age."

The difference between Badri and some of the others who have been picked at a time when youth is the flavour of the day with the selectors is that, at 27, he's no spring chicken. The flip side of this is that he has plenty of top-flight cricket under his belt. Already he has played in Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, and in a representative match against a full England team.

"That's what I've been saying to everyone who has asked whether the call has come a bit late for me. I've been saying that since I've already got a taste of international cricket," said Badri. "I've learned a lot over the last couple of years. I've worked on my fitness, I've become stronger. It all helps. Many players come in and find they're not prepared for international cricket and go away. Hopefully I'm more prepared and can stay at the highest level for long."

Prepared or not, the selectors, characteristically fickle, have let Badri go without giving him a single game: he's not in the squad for the first two ODIs against Pakistan. He didn't brood, though, and was third in the list of run-scorers in the Challenger Series, just behind Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik, both of whom also failed to make the cut for the Pakistan series.

The difference, though, is that Karthik and Raina have played for India. Despite everything he does, it seems that Badri just can't force his way into the side. The Corporation Ground, where he learned his cricket, does not exist anymore. It's been turned into a tennis complex. One can only hope that Badri's drive and desire - and his chances of playing for India - don't meet a similar end.