'I don't know, ask other people' - Faiz Fazal on why he never played for India despite scoring half-century on debut

Faiz Fazal had a glorious start to his international career, scoring an unbeaten half-century against Zimbabwe in 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. However, as fate would have it, the left-hander didn’t get another opportunity to don the India jersey at the biggest level.

Fazal, in a recent interaction, opened up that he’s not sure why he didn’t get a chance to represent the national side despite starting his international career with a half-century. Reflecting on his career, he said that even he was not sure why that was the case. However, he highlighted that he considers himself very fortunate to have represented the country.

Competition in the Indian team is very tough: Faiz Fazal

“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,” Fazal said during an interaction on the SportsTiger YouTube show ‘Off the Field’.

He also mentioned that he still is hopeful to pave his way into the Indian Test side. “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,” he added.

Fazal, who has scored over 7,000 runs in 112 First-class matches, admitted that one needs to accept any fault which he possesses. But it’s the game itself which gives him the motivation to keep playing cricket.

“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,” said Fazal.

Fazal also recalled his feelings after missing out on the 2004 Under-19 World Dup due to an injury. The 34-year-old revealed that it was a misconception that Shikhar Dhawan had replaced him in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup squad. He said that he and Dhawan were supposed to open the innings together at the marquee event.

“Firstly, I would like to correct you here because Shikhar was not my replacement. He was always there. I 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,” he clarified.

Here’s the video: