Parvez Rasool is J&K's boy in blue

Bishan Singh Bedi couldn't have been more delighted. Parvez Rasool, one of his wards, has just got that all-important call to the Indian cricket team. That Rasool is the first from Jammu & Kashmir to be selected for India is a bonus. "Rasool has everything that is needed to become a successful international cricketer," says Bedi, who first spotted the allrounder when he became the coach of the J&K team in 2011. The young allrounder is confident, talented, hardworking and has a lot of belief in his ability.

As delighted as Bedi is, the 24-year-old Rasool's selection for the Virat Kohli-led team to tour Zimbabwe has come on the back of an impressive performance in domestic cricket last season. Fortunately for him, with the selectors opting to rest the more experienced players against the weak Zimbabwean team, he got a look in, and his 33 wickets at an average of 18.09 and 594 runs at an average of 54 in the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy made the selectors tick his name in (in comparison, Ravindra Jadeja scored 794 runs and took 24 wickets).

"Rasool is one bowler who isn't afraid to flight the ball, and he loves to attack," says Bedi. Perhaps Rasool's time in the limelight would have come sooner, had it not been for the emergence of spinner-batsmen Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja. Like Rasool, whose domestic success after three seasons of mediocre play put him in the selectors' ken, Jadeja too had caught the eye in 2008-09, with a Ranji season figures of 42 wickets and 708 runs. But Jadeja is a more accomplished batsman than Rasool, having scored three triple centuries and boasting a first-class cricket average of just over 50 against the Kashmiri's highest score of 171 and an average of 38.6. Ashwin has the best record as a bowler and a Test century to boot.

Comparisons, however, do not do justice to Rasool's talent. "Don't compare him with Ashwin," says Bedi, "they are different players." "Rasool faces stiff competition but it bodes well for the future of Indian cricket," adds the veteran spinner.

Born in Bijbehara, a village in the Anantnag district in J&K, Rasool started playing cricket in school and was soon plying his trade at the district level. The young cricketer moved to Srinagar in 2008, and two years later was selected for the J&K Ranji team.

Rasool started off as a batsman who could bowl a bit, but Bedi, who took over as coach of J&K in 2011-12, told him that "he was the best off-spinner in the team". That instilled confidence in Rasool. Last year, he was the highest run scorer and wicket taker for his state.

Rasool's first outing on the national scene was a disappointment. In January 2013, while playing for India-A against England, he didn't make an impact -no wickets and no stint in front of the wickets. A month later, however, Rasool made amends in a tour game against Australia while turning out for the Board Presidents' XI. He snared seven wickets for 45 runs in the only Australian innings and ended up with a score of 36 runs in the first innings.

For Rasool to become the first cricketer from the Valley to be summoned for India duty is a big deal. That is for a good reason: in 62 years, Jammu & Kashmir has won a trifling 16 of their 242 matches in the Ranji Trophy.

That makes Rasool a star in a weak team, but as Bedi says, he has the skills to become an international star.

"His opportunity has come and it's up to him to take it," says the pleased coach.