Mumbai: India’s latest entrant to the pace bowling club Ishwar Pandey was so overwhelmed with joy about his inclusion in the national team that he even failed to remember his date of birth.
A day after being picked for the New Zealand tour, he was asked to explain how it feels to be born on a day when the entire nation celebrates the country’s independence but to everyone’s amazement he said he was born on July 30.
He needed to be reminded that he would be only the third Indian, after Vijay Bhardwaj and the relatively lesser-known Hemlata Kala, to be born on August 15 and go on to represent the country. “Yes, yes, my brother was born on July 30. I was born on Aug. 15,” he said. “The celebrations for my inclusion in the team coincided with the 31st. I hardly slept overnight. The party with friends was arranged at my place”, he added.
“My father, the retired army man and mother (Uma Devi) with siblings are very happy and I will try my best to bring glory to the nation”, he added.
Mukesh Sahani, his Ranji Trophy coach, says, “Ishwar is a very hardworking boy. He came into the game very late. He gets extra bounce because of the advantage of his height. “He is coming from a low profile family. Being a son of an army man, Ishwar Pandey is a well-disciplined boy”, Sahni signed off.
