I don't know why I never played for India after scoring a half-century on debut: Faiz Fazal
Vidarbha cricket team captain Faiz Fazal has mentioned that he is not sure why he did not get an opportunity to represent the Indian team again after having scored an unbeaten half-century on his ODI debut.
Faiz Fazal spoke at length about his cricketing career during an interaction on the SportsTiger YouTube show 'Off the Field'.
Faiz Fazal was asked what he felt has gone wrong, since he has not gotten an opportunity to play for India after having scored a half-century on his ODI debut. The left-handed opening batsman responded that even he was not sure why that was the case, while adding that he considers himself very fortunate to have represented the country.
"I don't know to be honest. You know the competition in the Indian team is very tough. I feel very fortunate that I could play for India. Because that was the aim to play for the country, nothing can be compared with that."
Faiz Fazal mentioned that he is still looking to stage a comeback to the Indian Test side while iterating that he is not the best person to answer why he didn't get more chances with the Indian team.
"I still aim to play for the Indian Test team. Yes, I feel disappointed that I couldn't continue my place in the Indian team but better than asking me, I don't know, you should ask few other people in the circuit."
The veteran of 125 first-class matches acknowledged that there could have been some drawbacks in his game as well and that he needs to keep performing consistently.
"But there must be some fault in me as well and you have to accept it. I need to perform a lot more. The game itself is my greatest motivation and I love playing cricket at any stage."
Faiz Fazal revealed that he plies his trade in the ECB Premier Leagues during the domestic off-season, with him unfortunately not being part of any IPL team.
"That's why even in the off-season, unfortunately this season I couldn't go, but I always travel to UK and play the premier league there because unfortunately as I am not in the IPL, I don't want to waste my time just sitting at home."
Faiz Fazal on missing out on the 2004 under-19 World Cup
Faiz Fazal was also asked about his feelings about having missed out on the 2004 under-19 World Cup due to an injury, with the general consensus that Shikhar Dhawan replaced him in the squad. Fazal was asked if that had affected his chances of representing the nation a little earlier.
The 34-year-old responded that it was a misconception that Shikhar Dhawan had replaced him in the 2004 under-19 World Cup squad and said that the two of them were supposed to open the innings together.
"Firstly, I would like to correct you here because Shikhar was not my replacement. He was always there. Me and Shikhar were going to open, in place of me a guy from Baroda, Rakesh Solanki, came into the side. There are quite a few misconceptions in the media that Shikhar Dhawan replaced me but that is not the correct thing."
Faiz Fazal recalled having broken his thumb, which was the injury that led to his omission from the Indian World Cup squad. He added that he was not discouraged by that although he was definitely disappointed.
"Unfortunately, yes I broke my thumb and then I had to miss the World Cup but I was very positive even after that. Definitely the disappointment was there but I wasn't discouraged, there is a very thin line between those two words."
Faiz Fazal opined that he could never be sure if he would have performed well in that World Cup to make an early break into the Indian senior team.
"As they say, when one door shuts down another ten open up. You never know, I may not have performed at all at the World Cup. So I always see the positive side and I don't feel very dejected about it."
Faiz Fazal scored an unbeaten 55 runs in the only ODI he played for India against Zimbabwe in June 2016. He was involved in an unbroken 126-run partnership for the first wicket with KL Rahul that helped India register a 10-wicket victory.
Faiz Fazal is one of the leading run-scorers in the Indian domestic circuit, having scored 8404 runs in 125 first-class matches. He also has a tally of almost 3000 runs in the 95 List A matches that he has played.