R Vinay Kumar hasn't yet given up on his dream of playing for India again, four years after his last international appearance. The ghosts of that match still linger when his international career is discussed: on a flat pitch at his home ground, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru against Australia, Vinay was battered for 102 runs, the second-most expensive nine-over returns in ODIs.
Opportunities since have been scant. He was part of the squad for home series against West Indies later that year, and travelled to Bangladesh in 2014, but did not make the XI. Vinay is at peace with his position, realising the competition among pacers in the national side, but is firm in the pursuit of his ambition. At 33, he is working harder than ever on keeping himself fit and has learned to be smarter about his bowling workload. "I'm matured enough to understand my situation. If I'm 21 or 22, then it (being out of the India team) may be very difficult to digest," he told ESPNcricinfo.
Vinay has learned to count every chance he gets as a blessing. He has had the right kind of people around to guide him, like Sachin Tendulkar, his mentor at Mumbai Indians, who impressed on him the importance of remembering the love for the game that he started out with in the first place.
"Bowlers are always happy to take five wickets. I'm the kind of bowler, who when a partnership needs to be broken, I'll be happy to come in and get a wicket. That's like getting five wickets for me. These small moments are what I enjoy very much. Breaking partnerships is a huge achievement for me. Indian team is always at the back of my mind, but I try to seek happiness from such small things and it makes me work harder on my game."
The time out of the Indian team has not affected his domestic impact. In the last four seasons, Vinay has been among Karnataka's top two wicket-takers in three of them. He captained them to six domestic titles in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. This year, he has already taken 13 wickets in three matches at 15.46, including a six-for against Maharashtra. With over 400 first-class wickets at an average of 23, Vinay has been a powerhouse performer in first-class cricket. His 369 wickets in the Ranji Trophy make him the highest wicket-taker among pace bowlers in the history of the tournament.
"Last three years, I got two awards from BCCI: best bowler award (highest wicket-taker in 2014-15 Ranji Trophy) and best allrounder award (in limited-overs cricket in 2013-14). Performance-wise, I don't have any doubt that I can come back into the Indian side, but I need to wait for an opportunity.
"There are two ways of looking at it - one, get frustrated and try to do something that you're not used to, or second is to keep it simple and keep doing what you have been, try to enjoy your cricket and whenever you get the opportunity, try to perform and raise your goals a little higher. You may or may not reach the goal, but that kind of challenges and motivates you to go out and perform. At the end of the day, when I go back to my room, I should be happy about the way I bowled. That feel-good factor is very important for me."
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