On Monday, Panchal earned his maiden call-up after senior opener Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the Test series against the Proteas. Rohit’s left-hamstring injury resurfaced during the team’s net session, which led Panchal to replace the Mumbaikar for the opening slot.
Panchal is quite a consistent run-scorer in domestic cricket. The Gujarat batter has played 100 first-class matches and scored over 7000 runs at an impressive average of 45.50 with as many as 24 centuries. Panchal will be directly competing for the opening slot with Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul.
Notably, the Ahmedabad-lad has just come back from South African conditions as he was captain of the India A team in two of the three unofficial Tests against South Africa A. The right-handed batter scored 120 runs in two fixtures, including a 96 off 171 balls in the opening unofficial Test.
After being picked in the India squad, Panchal took to Twitter and said he’s ‘honoured’ to be donning the India jersey and expressed his gratitude to the board for showing faith in him.
“Thank you, everyone, for all your good wishes. Honoured to be donning the team India jersey. Thank you for showing faith in me @BCCI. Looking forward to the series!,” Panchal wrote on Twitter.
In a chat with the Times of India, Panchal said it was every cricketer’s dream to play for India, and he was lucky that he finally got the golden opportunity.
“I was at home when I got the call-up. I am really happy. It’s every cricketer’s dream to don the India colours and jerseys, and nothing in the world can truly express this feeling. I am lucky that I am living this dream. I am really excited. I am looking forward to joining this star-studded squad. This Indian team is very strong. Be it bowling or batting, every box is perfectly ticked in our squad. We have experienced players. I am really lucky and honoured to be a part of this squad,” said Panchal.
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