“There was a time when I wanted to quit because I wasn’t gi

“There was a time (last season), when I thought about quitting. I was not getting my due despite wickets in domestic cricket. Maybe, the then selectors had different priorities. Again, when I was not named in any of the three sides for the Ahmedabad Challenger, I was very low. Fortunately, due to the Almighty’s grace, the selection committee bestowed their faith in me and I cannot explain how I felt on wearing the India cap. I have put all the miseries behind me and am looking forward with confidence. Maybe late, but I have realised hard work never goes waste. It’s amazing how success spurs one on. This was the right spur for me and I am confident of bowling well to any opposition now,” Ubaid feels.

Ubaid, alongwith seamer-teammate Ashish Winston Zaidi, was one of the pioneers of UP’s success story last year, picking up wickets in the crucial knock out matches. His five-wicket haul against the mighty Mumbai in semifinal was highly talked about. “I was battling injuries in the league games but importantly, was there to deliver in tough situations,” Ubaid recalls.

Employed by Punjab Communications Limited (PUNCOM), the Allahabad paceman has bowled to almost all the top batsmen of the country and still fondly recalls the ’93-94 Duleep Trophy match against West Zone when he prised out Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli in a dream spell. “It was a placid Baroda wicket and it happened in the afternoon session. In my zest to bowl to Tendulkar and Kambli, I put that much extra and it paid off. After the day, they acknowledged my spell. That went a long way in establishing my confidence,” Ubaid says.

However, Ubaid maintains the chasm between domestic batsmen andinternational batsmen is very wide. “I recall an incident from England’s tour of India in ’92. We were playing a practice match at the Kotla (New Delhi) and I was bowling to Robin Smith. I pitched my first five balls up to him and he just defended them. I wanted to outwit him by trying to bowl the last one just a fraction short. Believe me, it must have been only some centimetres short than the earlier ones but Robin went back and cut me with ferocious ease. That was a lesson for me and I knew that you should bowl as late as possible to quality batsmen,” Ubaid says.

All eyes are now set on the May-June World Cup to be held in England. Some eminent cricketers are of the view that with the wickets in England suiting his ability to swing the ball, Ubaid could be an asset as the fourth seamer. But will he get the nod?