Espnstar.com’s Rajarshi Gupta caught up with Abhishek Nayar’s Mumbai coach Praveen Amre recently.

Amre is a satisfied man. After a sensational season, where he led Mumbai to a Ranji Trophy win and rounded it up with the Duleep Trophy, the former India batsman has more to cheer about.

One of his brightest prodigies, all-rounder Nayar has made it to the Indian team for the ODI series beginning in the West Indies today and for all you might try, the pride in Amre's voice is hard to miss.

"Nayar is known for his fearless cricket"

"I am very happy for him. The entire Mumbai Cricket Association is very happy for him. Nayar deserved this chance."

Amre was quick to point out that Nayar has always been known for his fearless cricket and that he comes as a complete package in the 50-over format.

"Look, Nayar is known for his fearless cricket and he is great all-round talent. He may not get a chance to bowl for India but if given dual roles, I am sure he would do well."

The coach is worried that Nayar is highly underrated as a bowler but did point out that being a thinking cricketer, Nayar could do anything that the captain wanted on the field.

Given the current state of the Indian team, a thinking cricketer is what skipper MS Dhoni would give his right arm for.

"I constantly pushed him"

Be it his crucial first innings 99 for Mumbai in the Ranji Final against Uttar Pradesh or his abilities to take wickets or the sheer guts he has shown for the Mumbai Indians in the two editions of the Indian Premier League, transforming his game to altogether different level, Nayar has done it all and the national call-up for the 26-year-old was all but a matter of time.

Talented and spirited he might be but Amre admits to having pushed the southpaw that extra mile.

"You know, I have had to be really harsh with Nayar at times. As a coach, I needed to handle him differently and I constantly pushed him to challenge himself."

The result if there for all to see and his sparkling cameos for the Indians in the first edition of the IPL showed what exactly he was capable of.

When asked if he saw patches of Steve Waugh or Sourav Ganguly in Nayar, given both the bat batting legends also stormed into the international arena with a reputation for dangerous medium pace bowling, Amre shot back.

"No, Nayar has his own identity. The best thing about Nayar is that he can go for the impossible and pull it off brilliantly. He is a guy, who has been there and done that

Nobody supported Nayar or showed any kind of bias towards him and that's why he has reached where he has today. He has always been happy to go to the higher level and been a consistent performer."

No one knows what would be in store for the big hearted Mumbai cricketer but rest assured, Nayar belongs to the school of cricket where they try and persevere till they make it big. That is how he found himself on a flight to the West Indies to join the national team.

What awaits him there would unfurl by tonight. Come what may, let us celebrate a champion in the making.