Services finally got their first win of the Ranji Trophy this season after they defeated Puducherry in a home fixture by 5 wickets at the Palam A Stadium in Delhi.
The hosts made a tweak in the final XI and brought in wicket-keeper batter Lovekesh Bansal who was also making his Ranji debut in this match for Services.
The left-handed batter didn’t really waste the opportunity and showed his class with the bat as he notched up an unbeaten fifty in the first innings that played a crucial role in helping Services get the first-innings lead and an upper hand.
In an exclusive chat with CricketNext, Bansal talked about his debut, missing out on a hundred and his cricketing journey.
“It’s actually a great feeling that I put up a good performance on my debut. Moreover, the team won and that was really important,” he said.
Lovekesh was 83* when Services declared the first innings at 466/7. Quizzed about whether he was disappointed on not getting a chance to go for the ton, the wicket-keeper batter said that the declaration was in the team’s favour so he wasn’t really bothered about missing out on his personal milestone.
“Look, it’s always about the team first, so, yeah it’s all part and parcel of the game. If you look at it the other way and if I would have got a hundred and the team wouldn’t have got the outright win, that would have been more disappointing for me.”
“I was just thinking about the process and not really thinking much about anything else. I was keeping it simple. I have played earlier and I know my game. So, I was just concentrating on doing the same things and eventually, things fell in place,” he said when asked about what was his thought process while taking guard for the first time.
Bansal who shifted bases from Haryana to Services talked about his cricketing journey and how it all began.
When I was pretty young, I used to play tennis ball cricket and then when in 2004, I joined an academy in (Yamuna Nagar) Haryana which is my hometown. Later, I started developing some interest in the game as I grew up and in 2012, I made my debut for Haryana U19 and became the vice-captain the very next year. I have also played Syed Mushtaq Ali from there and U25 as well. Overall, I have played my junior-level cricket from Haryana itself,” he said.
“Then I got a job opportunity in the Navy. I was contacted by the then coach, Narender Kumar as the team had the requirement for a wicket-keeper batter. So, I got the offer for the same. Presently, my rank is Leading Comm.”
“After joining the Navy, I started playing in Inter-Services tournament and was a part of the squad for the Ranji Trophy last year as well and made the debut for the side this season,” he added.
Services only have one win in four games and Lovekesh noted that the side needs to get outright wins in all the remaining fixtures to stay in the hunt.
“It’s pretty simple. We need to get outright wins in the remaining fixtures. So, we are just focusing on that,” he concluded.
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