Delhi all rounder Pavan Negi was the only new face included in India’s squad for the upcoming 3 match T20I series against Sri Lanka beginning on the 9th of February. The left handed batsman and spinner was ecstatic after receiving his maiden call up for the Indian side and thanked his well wishers. Negi however thanked one person in particular, and that was his Chennai Super Kings teammate Suresh Raina.
“I’ve been in constant touch with Raina bhai. We practice together in Noida, and he has been the reason behind my consistency. Whenever he is in Delhi, he makes sure he bats along with me in the nets. He tells me to visualise different situations in a match and should be my approach. One of the things he told me was that whenever I get to bat early in an innings, I should curtail big shots and try and take the game till the end. That is what I have been doing for the last one year and thankfully it has been rewarded.”
Negi however, admitted that he was surprised with his name in the Indian squad. “With the WT20 just a month away, and when the entire team had contributed so well Down Under, the call was surprising. However, I had performed extremely well in the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy,” Negi said.
Negi opened up about his all round abilities and said, “My strength has been to play big shots but until last year, I never realised that making 25-30 runs will not help my cause. Raina bhai told me the importance of shouldering the responsibility and to bat with maturity.” “Dhoni bhai told me to bowl fearlessly with the new ball. I was a bit scared but he told me to bowl as if I was bowling in the middle overs. Since then, I am working on how to become better,” Negi added.