Nagpur: Without ever losing hope, Siddarth Kaul hopped from one venue to another in the domestic circuit till he received the news of his maiden India call-up from the on-field umpires during a Ranji Trophy match.

Punjab were bowling against Services in Amritsar on Monday, when match referee Sunil Chaturvedi sent a message through umpires Vineet Kulkarni and K Srinath for Kaul.

"It was drinks break at that time and one of the umpires came up to me and said that match referee sir (Chaturvedi) had informed him that I have been selected for the India ODI squad. I didn't know how to react at that moment. It was the biggest piece of news in my cricketing career and I got it on the field," Kaul said.

The 27-year-old came into spotlight when he bowled the famous last over during that 2008 U-19 World Cup final against South Africa in Kuala Lumpur, when Virat Kohli was leading the side. Kohli has since gone onto become one of India's greatest batsmen. Ravindra Jadeja, also from that squad, has become an established name while the likes of Saurabh Tiwary and Abhinav Mukund have made sporadic national team appearances.

But Kaul never lost hope in all these years as he plied his trade for Punjab, North Zone, India A and Sunrisers Hyderabad consistently. He has 175 first-class wickets from 50 games and 99 List A scalps from 52 matches.

"I was always hopeful that if I keep performing, I would get my share of chances," he said. PTI