A dream which never came true for Saurashtra batsman Kotak

Retiring Saurashtra batsman Sitanshu Kotak is disappointed over not representing India at the international level and thinks luck did not favour him.
The left-handed batsman, who will be playing his last Ranji match against Rajasthan starting here tomorrow, today said destiny did not favour him despite being a consistent performer in the domestic circuit.
"I have made centuries in most of the domestic tournaments like Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Deodhar Trophy and Irani Trophy. But I was unlucky not to set selected for Team India," the 41-year-old said here.
"It was my dream to play for the country. It never happened and that was the only unfortunate thing in my cricketing life," said the veteran, who has hit 15 centuries and averages a healthy 41.64 in domestic cricket.

Kotak, then 27, was almost at the doorstep of national team selection he scored a century in Irani Trophy in 1999-2000.
Playing for Rest of India (RoI), Kotak showed his mettle against then leading Indian bowlers like Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble. He made 118 and helped RoI beat Karnataka.

"It was learnt that the selection committee was misguided over my age. I was 27 but the selection committee was informed that I am 37 and that might have led them not to select me (for Team India)," said Kotak, who is just four short of 8,000 first-class runs from 129 matches.

"I felt bad at not getting selected in the national team despite my good performance with the bat."
Kotak, who started his Ranji career against Mumbai in 1992, soon became the batting mainstay for Saurashtra. He had a formidable reputation while playing against the multiple time Ranji champions.
Seven years back he spent a record 700 minutes at the crease against Mumbai and helped his team to qualify for the next round.
Kotak said he was proud to be part of the Saurashtra Ranji team, which won a one-day tournament and reached the final of the premier domestic tournament last year.