At 29, Chetnya Nanda isn’t exactly a youngster looking forward to bigger things in life. As things stand for the leg-spinner, though, the good things associated with playing cricket in India — like a chunk of the Indian Premier League pie — have only started coming.

Only recently the Delhi all-rounder got a Grade D contract from the BCCI for his last season’s heroics. And now, Nanda has finally made the cut for IPL with the Mumbai Indians, signing up for a one-year contract although an official confirmation from the team is likely only in March.

After impressing everyone on the domestic circuit, Nanda is now eyeing the IPL as a road to mass recognition. “It is a very big platform for players like me. A good performance there can work wonders. We all know how doing well in the IPL has changed many things for nobodies who went on to play for India,” he says.

Nanda had a dream season last year. Besides winning his first-ever Ranji Trophy title with Delhi, the leg-spinner took a five-wicket haul in the Irani Trophy match against Rest of India, scalping the prized wickets of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. This was the performance, he says, that finally got people interested in him.

“The Irani Trophy match got me noticed. May be it was destiny, but that performance changed many things for me,” he says, recalling his five-for in that match. “I won’t like to take names here. But while the guys who were doing really well for us the whole season bombed, I got wickets when it really mattered. And that is the only reason things have finally began to happen for me,” he adds.

Despite his performance, it still rankles Nanda that he had to miss out on first-class games in his career. “I got my first 50 wickets in only 12 games, but then I was sidelined (Nanda has only played 30 matches since his debut in 2004-05). But with hard work and performance I have turned things around. Performance cannot be ignored,” he reasons.

Elbowed out?
This Ranji season, though, has been anything but great for the leggie. He was injured even before the start of the season; when he did play, he could only take 13 wickets in 6 matches. “I know my performance has not been impressive but bowling on flat wickets didn’t help my cause,” he says.