More than the runs he accumulated this domestic season, it was Hemang Badani's gung-ho attitude that overwhelmed the selectors and coach of the Indian team. Badani seemed pretty relaxed as he unburdened some of his thoughts on the eve of his biggest challenge so far, visiting Dhaka with the national team. Admitting that his selection to the Asia Cup squad came as a surprise, he said it was a great feeling to be playing for the country.

Badani remarked that it was a great experience to be rubbing shoulders with the biggest names in Indian cricket during the recent conditioning camp in Pune, hailing it as a fine opportunity to gain valuable inputs from those who had played for the country at the highest level. When it was put to him that the chairman of selectors had been impressed by his fielding, an embarrassed Badani laughed it off, saying "I don't know. You have to ask him about that."

Inevitably the knock he played in the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Bombay cropped up in the conversation but Badani did not rate it as his best. Instead he plumped for his century against Orissa last year on a wretched wicket at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. "It was actually very dangerous, you could get hit any time. You had balls shooting from a good length and others flying past your face every second ball."

Badani had a slightly rough start to the season this time, with a pair in one of the zonal matches followed by some more indifferent outings. But he resolutely turned the corner in a Super League game against UP, with 62 and 104, and seemed to be a different batsman after that. "You have to be mentally tough to be playing cricket,'' he said. ``Everybody goes through a bad patch but you have to try and keep working on your game. That's what I did and I got back."

Reminiscing about his first class debut in the 1996-97 season, Badani said that he played in the Ranji one-day game against Kerala and was not originally in the eleven for the four day game that followed. Tamil Nadu were chasing 240 odd and were in a spot of trouble at 150/5 when Badani, then a 19-year-old tyro, pulled the chestnuts out of the fire with a battling 75 not out that forced a tie. He went to play the four dayer as well and made 28 in a rather uneventful debut.

Although he played for the India A team in the SAARC tournament in Dhaka in 1998, it has taken him another two years to break into the national squad. That competition was played on astro-turf but it should be an advantage for him to return to familiar conditions at the Bangabandhu Stadium.

An occasional slow left arm bowler, Badani said that he was trying to develop this facet of his game as well. "If you're a batsman who could bowl, you can always edge another guy out to get a chance to play in the eleven." Disclosing that he would like to work on his temperament a little more and play longer innings more often, Badani suggested ominously that the bowlers who face off against him in the future could be in for a hard time. "My strengths are my shotmaking ability. I can be pretty destructive if I'm in good nick", he warned.

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