India call-up is a dream come true: Vijaykumar Vyshak

Friday, October 25 turned out to be a special day in the life of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak as he received a potentially life-changing call as he was going through his pre-match routines ahead of Karnataka's upcoming Ranji Trophy clash against Bihar.

The 27-year-old was picked in India's 15-member squad for next month's T20I tour of South Africa. This was his maiden international call-up and the youngster had to pinch himself after a selector told him about the development. India are set to play four T20Is in the Rainbow Nation, and Vyshak could be in line to make his debut for the Men in Blue.

During an interview, the talented right-arm pacer said that the national team call-up was a dream come true moment for him. "I'm speechless. An India call-up is what every cricketer aspires for. It's a dream come true," Vyshak said in an interview with The Times of India.

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Vyshak made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut back in 2023 and played seven matches. This season, he featured in four games and has a total of 13 wickets from the 11 outings for the Faf du Plessis-led side. He has an average of 30.38 and an economy rate of 10.26. While these numbers are not very impressive, the fact that he has bowled on some extremely batting-friendly tracks should be taken into account. What stood out was the courage he showed while bowling to some of the fiercest batters in world cricket and the ability to use variations to disrupt their strokeplay.

I looked at myself in the mirror and I didn't see a cricketer: Vijaykumar Vyshak

Vyshak started his career as a batter before transitioning into being a seamer a decade ago. He revealed that people used to call him fat but it didn't bother him until he looked in the mirror and saw himself as an "overweight youngster", who was struggling in his cricketing career. This is when he started putting extra focus on his fitness.

"For a long time, people called me fat and it never really bothered me. A few years ago, I looked at myself in the mirror and I didn't see a cricketer. What I saw was an overweight youngster, who was struggling with his cricket. That day, I told myself, fitness is everything, work on it," added the Bangalore-born, who has best figures of 3/5 in domestic T20 cricket.

Vyshak took help from former international athlete and coach BP Aiyappa and trainers Sai Prasanna and Puneeth in 2019 to improve his fitness.

"I would be at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium (in Bengaluru) before sunrise. After a four-km warm-up run, Aiyappa would put me through the grind to work on my stamina and endurance. In the evenings I trained in the gym. I did this for two years without looking at the results because I believed my hard work would pay off someday," stated Vyshak.

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Around the same time, Vyshak travelled to Chennai to work with former India bowling coach Bharat Arun, who is the current bowling coach of Kolkata Knight Riders.

"My action was all over the place. I couldn't jump because of my weight. There were days when I wept to my parents. That's when I went to work with Arun sir. I did 3–4 sessions with him, and it worked wonders for me. I keep going back to work with Arun sir," Vyshak stated.

He asserted that playing in the IPL has prepared him to bowl in all situations. The speedster is ready to give his best shot when he gets the opportunity to play for India.

"I've bowled in all situations for RCB, and I can adapt quickly. When the opportunity comes, I want to give it my all," he ended.