da bet7： He had been so busy playing club matches in the city, that DeepDasgupta had no idea when the probables for the Zimbabwe tour would beselected
Staff Reporter23-Apr-2001He had been so busy playing club matches in the city, that DeepDasgupta had no idea when the probables for the Zimbabwe tour would beselected. Moreover, he had never thought that he would find a placeamongst an elite lot. It was a club official who informed him aboutthe good news on Sunday evening. And since then the wicket-keeper fromBengal has been flooded with congratulations. “I had never reallyexpected to find a place amongst the 26 cricketers. However, now thatI have got the opportunity, I will fight it out” said Dasgupta. Heknows that the competition at Bangalore will be fierce as there aretwo more wicket-keepers in the list announced on Sunday. But Dasguptais not ready to think about them. “I only want to concentrate onmyself. If I think too much about others, my performance will suffer.”The excitement of finding a place amongst the probables is restrainedbecause his parents are in England at present. “My brother has justlanded a lucrative job in England” said Deep. “So my parents have goneto visit. I called up my dad and mom on Sunday. They are reallythrilled. Especially dad.” It should be mentioned here that Dasgupta’scomeback match against Orissa this year was quite successful. Thepressure on him was tremendous. More so, because his dad wascritically ill. However, he performed very well both in front of andbehind the stumps.Dasgupta learnt his cricket in Delhi for which he is indebted to NIScoach Suneeta Sharma. Even though, he was born in Kolkata, Deep spent16 years in Delhi. During this period he used to visit the NationalStadium to practise gymnastics. It was there that he managed toattract the attention of Ms Sharma. She noticed a boy who used tostand for hours to watch the cricketers practice. Finally she calledhim to the nets and gymnastics’ loss was cricket’s gain. “I am reallythankful to her and to Dronacharya Gursharan Singh of Delhi for theirimmense contribution in developing my cricketing abilities” said Deep.In fact, Dasgupta had also represented Delhi in the Under-16 levelVijay Merchant Trophy.He had a Ranji Trophy hundred on debut against Baroda in the 1998/99season. Even then, his place was not certain in the Bengal sidebecause of the presence of Saba Karim. This year also Dasgupta wouldhave been on the sidelines but his chance arrived when Karim withdrewfrom the Bengal team because of fitness problems and he grabbed itwith both hands. Dasgupta had the opportunity of playing alongsideSaurav Ganguly when the latter played in the match against Orissa. “Hewas very pleased with the way I kept wickets. He was alwaysencouraging” ended Deep.