Giridih, July 13: ?Perform continuously and let the selectors do their job,? is the philosophy of Jharkhand Ranji team?s most promising pace bowler, Shiv Shankar Rao, who will be awarded the ?state cricketer of the year.?

Rao had bagged 30 wickets for Jharkhand in the Ranji Plate tournament. Jharkhand State Cricket Association will confer the award to Rao on July 17 in Kennan Stadium.

The natural out-swinger is making rapid strides towards stardom with his devastating bowling, blended with lethal in-swingers and delivering in good line and length.

Rao is also the only cricketer from Jharkhand to have been selected for the MRF Pace Foundation programme, where he impressed the all-time-great bowler Dennis Lilee with his bowling.

Rao, hailing from Madhupur, started his cricketing career from Giridih district before moving on to Dhanbad, from where he was picked for the state Ranji team.

Speaking from Jamshedpur over the phone, the 22-year-old pacer attributed his success to his family, especially his two elder brothers, Madhusudan and Amar, who support him in every situation.

Rao dismissed the general concern that cricketers from the state catch the national selectors? eyes late.

He countered, ?If you have the talent they (the selectors) have to take notice of you and Dhoni has proved that we also have enough talent to go along with the other players of the Indian cricket team.?

But he dismissed setting a time frame for getting selected into the national team. ?I have always tried to give my best and in the future also will do the same. But I do not set any deadline as it could hamper the spirit when the time passes, and I feel dejected and a failure in the cricketing profession,? said the fan of Australian speedster Glen McGrath.