Manoj Tewari with his parents at their residence on Saturday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Manoj Tewari hardly anticipated the reception on arrival in the city in the early hours of Saturday. Friends and relatives, apart from the media, waited eagerly with garlands since evening to hail the Bengal batsman following his call-up to the one-day squad for the Bangladesh tour.

It did take Manoj by surprise, as he attended to all his well wishers before returning home. There was no respite since morning as the stream of visitors to their house at Railway quarters in Howrah continued. In between attending phone calls and meeting media requirements, Manoj hardly found time for himself. A few felicitations are also lined up for the coming days.

In keeping with the buzz, he had started to focus on the tour even before his name was officially announced on Friday. “I spoke to Souravda (Ganguly) during the Twenty20 meet in Ahmedabad. I have been trying to know the conditions there.

“It’s not a matter of feeling the pressure. I don’t need to worry about it but concentrate on the job at hand,” he said.

He will also remember Sunil Gavaskar’s advice to improve his temperament at a domestic awards function earlier this year. He knows international cricket is more about temperament and so the legend’s advice will come in handy.

He, though, will miss the opportunity of sharing the dressing room with the likes of Sourav and Sachin Tendulkar. “I would definitely have been happy had they been around… Their experience would always have been of great help.”