S. Badrinath

Vadodara: Had Gautam Gambhir been fine, Subramaniam Badrinath would’ve headed for home town Chennai and not this Royal city on completion of the Irani Trophy in Rajkot.

Because of the circumstances, though, the talented Badrinath drove down here to join Team India ahead of the fifth ODI against world champions Australia.

The Mahendra Singh Dhonis and the Australians arrived rather late in the afternoon on Tuesday.

“I’m excited... Very excited... I didn’t expect to get the selectors’ call in such a big series... Didn’t expect it now,” the 27-year-old right-hander told The Telegraph moments after getting off the Qualis which brought him from Rajkot around 6 pm.

Asked if he’d celebrated his call-up, on Monday night, Badrinath answered smiling: “I was in the midst of the Irani match... We (Rest of India) wanted to wrap it up quickly and did so this morning... I didn’t get the time for anything in Rajkot...”

He may find some over the next couple of days.