GUWAHATI, June 6 - After being overlooked by the BCCI selectors for the tour of Zimbabwe and West Indies despite being the second highest wicket taker in Ranji Trophy, Assam pacer Krishna Das is even more determined to leave no stones unturned in his quest for a Team India berth in the near future.
The BCCI selectors may have turned a blind eye on the pacer who hails from Barpeta but that doesn�t seem to stop him from working hard.
The lanky medium pacer was no less than a Barpeta �firecracker� last season, with 50 wickets to his kitty from 10 Ranji Trophy matches at an average of 16.10. Das emerged as the second highest wicket taker while Jharkhand spinner Shahbaz Nadeem occupied the top spot with 51 wickets in nine matches at an average of 19.62.
�It hurts when you perform well and not get selected but that won�t stop me from working hard. I am working on increasing my pace and I have been doing a lot of weight training these days. My ultimate goal is to play for India, and I believe if I continue performing, one day my dream will come true,� Krishna Das lamented.
Having played a major part in scripting history by guiding the Assam team to its first ever Ranji Trophy semifinal, the pacer is in no mood to take things lightly for the next season.
�Having picked up 50 wickets and another three while playing for India A which makes it 53 wickets in one domestic season. I don�t know where things went wrong but still I believe if I keep performing, one day my dream will turn into a reality,� Das said.
�It�s not easy to repeat the same kind of a performance but I am determined to do even better when the season gets off,� he added.
It was the Bengal paceman Ranadeb Bose who managed to pick up more than 50 wickets in a domestic season in 2006-07 being a fast bowler. Since then, it has always been the spinners who have ruled the roost before Krishna Das arrived in the scene after a halt of almost 10 years.
Asked regarding the no response from any franchise in the cash rich Indian Premier League, �I won�t say much about franchises because they may have their own decision. I went for the Mumbai Indians trial but unfortunately the think tank had something else in mind. I performed well but couldn�t attend the Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore camp.�
Asked whether his pace seems to be a factor behind the selectors turning a blind eye, Das said: �I don�t think pace has got much to do with bowling. I was bowling at quite a decent speed while playing for India A. We have had players like Pravin Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar playing for India. Although the latter is tremendous with his bowling along with his pace now but that wasn�t the same thing when he started.
�I would like to bowl shorter spells this season, I mean around six to eight over spells because bowling around 15 over spells have an impact on your pace,� Das added.
