It was a great day for Kerala cricket. Perhaps it could be the best thing that have happened to Kerala cricket for a long time. The entry of 22-year-old Tinu Yohannan to Indian team absolutely enthralled Kerala, which is known for giving the nation some great athletes.

The fast bowler was named in the Indian team for the first Test match against England, thus becoming the first cricketer from Kerala to achieve this landmark. Initially, the cricket fans of Kerala could not believe it. Nor did Tinu. "I cannot believe it. I swear to work harder and do well at every opportunity I get," Tinu said, when he received the news of his selection.

This fit, wiry young man took to athletics at an early age following in the footsteps of his illustrious father TC Yohannan who leapt across a distance of 8.07 metres to set an Asian Games record at Teheran in 1974. And now decades later, his son, Tinu Yohannan is in the limelight.

Rising up the rungs quickly, Tinu began to catch people's eyes in Kerala as a high jumper who would go far. And, he had won several gold and silver at the state junior level. Then the inevitable happened. He got smitten by the game of cricket after the South African side led by Hansie Cronje arrived in Kochi in 1998.

Then it was all cricket, and nothing else. His route to the Indian team, like for many other Indian seamers was through Chennai's MRF Pace Foundation. He visited the MRF Pace Academy in 1997, and the four years of training under Dennis Lillee and TA Sekhar helped him break into the national squad for the home series against England. He worked hard and waited for two years before he could debut in the Ranji Trophy for Kerala in the 1999-2000 season against Goa and has only played a handful of domestic matches before his entry to the national squad.

For Tinu, 2001 was a crucial year. He had made an impression in the Irani Trophy match on a dead wicket and the national selectors had taken note of this promising bowler. So much so that they named the 22-year-old in the 14-man squad to face England in the first Test at Mohali after he had played just eight first-class matches.

In the domestic cricket, Tinu has so far played in six matches and picked up 19 wickets at an average of 25.94. His best bowling performance was 6 for 117 against Andhra last season. In two seasons thus far, Yohannan has 24 wickets from eight matches.

His boyhood heroes were Curtley Ambrose and Allan Donald, but he dreams of taking over from Javagal Srinath as India's new-ball bowler