Back in the BCCI's fold after resigning from the 'rebel' Indian Cricket League, Rohan Gavaskar is now eyeing a comeback into Bengal Ranji team, which he captained once.
Back in the BCCI's fold after resigning from the 'rebel' Indian Cricket League, Rohan Gavaskar is now eyeing a comeback into Bengal Ranji team, which he captained once.
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The left-hand batsman, who joined ICL in its inaugural year in 2007, however, was not ready to regret the decision to play for Subhash Chandra owned Twenty20 league that resulted in virtual closing of Team India's doors two years ago.
"Not at all, I don't regret my decision. I decided to join ICL at that time because I wanted to play against quality international players. There were lots of good international cricketers who played in the ICL," Rohan said.
"There were almost the whole Pakistan team and also those like Shane Bond, Craig MacMilan (New Zealand), Brian Lara (West Indies) and Lance Klusener (South Africa) to name a few. When I joined the ICL, I knew that Indian team's doors were shut for me," said Rohan, who is here to play for Tata SC team in the Sahara BCCI Corporate Cricket tournament.
Rohan, son of legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar, were among the 71 cricketers who parted ways with the ICL following the BCCI's amnesty offer earlier this year.
The 33-year-old has found his place among Bengal's Ranji Trophy probables recently and is now determined to do well in the corporate tournament to prove that he still has lot to offer.
"It certainly feels good to be back in the official fold. But I always found the rebel tag a bit harsh as at the end of the day you were not doing anything but to play cricket. "Now I have been included in Bengal's Ranji probables list and am pretty confident of making it to the final squad. And my record for Bengal is also impressive," Rohan said.
"This is very important tournament for me. Its my first official event after returning from the ICL, so I want to perform well here," Rohan added.
Rohan, who played 11 ODIs before eventually being dropped from the national team in 2004-05, now wants to encash whatever opportunity comes in his way.
"Not just in cricket but in life you need luck. You think this could happen that could happen but there is no point in looking back at the past and thinking whether I was lucky or unlucky. It doesn't serve any purpose. The clever thing would be to concentrate on the future," Gavaskar said.
He might struggling hard to shrug off the ICL-hangover, but the cricketer insists that passion for the game is still intact in him.
"Fame is not what I run after. I didn't start playing cricket to become famous. I play cricket because I love the game, fame is not what interests me so it doesn't bother me at all," he said.
"Now cricket has become my career but when I started playing it didn't think it as a career option. I didn't play cricket to make money because that time there was no money in the game. You play the game because you love the game," Rohan said.
Rohan boasts of a record of 6,829 runs and 37 wickets from 114 first class matches in the domestic circuit with, which made many to believe that he had ingredients to become a top-class international all-rounder.
But with continuous downpour lashing the serene hill town for the last two days, Rohan feels it would be disappointing if rain washes out the opportunity for which he is waiting eagerly.
"If we can't play a single match, we will be missing out on valuable practice ahead of the Ranji season. But it's the start of the season and no player will want to risk an injury," he said.
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