Forget all those fastest, sharpest and the deadliest debates concerning the Indian team, if there happens to be a popularity poll in the dressing room, Munaf Patel without doubt would be voted Mr Congeniality.

At nets one has seen a smile on Sachin Tendulkar’s face whenever Munaf refers to him as ‘Paaji’ with a heavy Gujarati accent and follows it up with ready wisecrack. In the team bus he has his close mate Irfan Pathan, the only man who speaks the language he is comfortable in, in splits all the time.

So today at Munaf’s first major press conference there were four of his teammates sneaking among the scribes to catch every word. As one of the teammates said, “He has this quirky sense of humour that’s a huge hit in the team, everyone hangs on to each of his words.’’

Dhoni climbed over chairs to draw Munaf’s attention over the cameras, Suresh Raina and Romesh Powar whispered ‘Munna’ from the sides to rib him while Pathan looked on with a smile, with not even a shade of grudge against the pacer who was preferred over him with the new ball in the last match.

Unhealthy competition and peer pressure are ruled out of the equation when it comes to the man with a rustic charm, straight talking style and a perpetual smile on the face. If he has gracefully glided into the team in his first season, there were no jitters as he faced the bunch of television mikes a few assorted voice-recorders.

... contd.