‘My mum had to quit her job’: Suryansh Shedge makes emotional confession after first phone call to India

NEW DELHI: Mumbai and Punjab Kings young all-rounder Suryansh Shedge, who earned his maiden India call-up on Tuesday after replacing the injured Nitish Kumar Reddy in India’s T20I squads for the series against Ireland and England, was naturally oozing with joy.“Actually, I still can’t sink it in and I don’t think I will be able to sink it until I get on the plane! I still can’t believe it! It’s been my dream since childhood. And of course it’s a very special feeling. And I’m very proud and happy for my parents (Prashant and Priyadarshini), because of the sacrifices they weren’t able to make for a cricketer,” the 23-year-old told TOI.“My mum worked at a bank but she quit because she had to accompany me to training and matches,” he revealed.Shedge has been training under former India batsman Jatin Paranjap for the past two years, with the former cricketer working hard to improve his charge’s game.Expressing his gratitude to his coaches, Shedge said, “The way Manish Bangera, Jatin and Monty Desai have helped me on my journey, it’s very gratifying because they really believed in me. If the environment is such that everyone knows my abilities and if they keep telling me (about my abilities), self-belief comes automatically. So it’s helped me a lot.”It will help Shedge that he played under Shreyas Iyer, India’s new T20 captain, for both Mumbai and Punjab Kings.“That is absolutely true. I have made my debut under him four times in the last two years – in SMAT, Vijay Hazare Trophy, India A and IPL. He is someone who gives 100% in terms of attitude and dedication to the team and that mentality creeps into the whole side,” Shedge said.Announcing that Shedge had been selected as Reddy’s replacement after he suffered a quadriceps injury, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said: “Suryansh earned the call-up after a string of impressive performances for India A in the recently concluded tri-series in Sri Lanka. Batting in the middle order, the 23-year-old scored 147 runs bowling and 237 runs bowling. He was also one of the standout players Mumbai in their 2024-25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy winning campaign where he scored 131 runs at a strike rate of 251.92 in the lower middle order.Clearly, Shedge’s ability to churn out big hits in slog overs, along with contributing some useful medium-paced overs, has won the confidence of Ajit Agarkar and his fellow selectors.India will open their tour with a two-match T20I series against Ireland on Friday in Belfast before taking on England in a five-match T20I series starting in Chester-le-Street on July 1.However, Shedge felt he “should have done better” in the tri-series in Sri Lanka.“I didn’t do well in the last two matches,” he regretted.India are scheduled to play five T20Is and three ODIs in England in July. Incidentally, India are without the services of star all-rounder Hardik Pandya for the UK tour due to a quadriceps injury and workload related issues. Reddy was expected to fill the void left by Hardik but now Shedge will be tasked to fill those big shoes.He expected after good performances in India And this opportunity?“No. For the last two-three years, I thought I shouldn’t have any expectations from my cricket because I feel at this stage it’s important to remember why you started playing cricket. When I was 8-10 years old and I used to go to the field, I just enjoyed playing the sport. So somewhere along the way we forgot that, but we forgot to remind myself why I started playing cricket,” he said.“So I have no expectations,” he added.Shedge’s CV was boosted by his ability to spend a useful mid-pace tag.“I think my bowling has improved a lot over the last two years and I’ve been working hard on that because I know how it can be useful for the team. And if I want to contribute, I’ll have to improve day by day,” he commented.Shedge has scored 158 runs in seven matches at an average of 39.50 for Punjab Kings in IPL 2026.“I faced international bowlers in the IPL, so that was also a big confidence booster. And after sitting out for half a season, I felt very proud to be playing in the XI,” he said.Who is he trying to imitate as a jack of all trades? The all-rounder smiled: “I adore Ben Stokes. If you see, he did magic in the Ashes 12 overs. And he has to do it for his team as well. He has to contribute. So I look up to him.”