Parkinson was reported being considered for the tour but having been eventually picked by the Lions believes he missed an opportunity to be involved with the senior team
Callum Parkinson admits he got "a little bit excited" at the prospect of an England Test call-up and believes he "missed a bit of an opportunity" to replace the injured Jack Leach in the squad.
The Durham spinner was part of a Lions training camp in the United Arab Emirates across November and December, leading to reports he was being considered for the five-Test series.
Eventually overlooked as Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum selected Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley, a place appeared to open up when Jack Leach suffered a knee injury in Hyderabad and was ruled out of the remainder of the trip.
Previous to that, the left-arm spinner played in two of the three unofficial Tests between the Lions and India A, taking five wickets at 70.60 - a performance he accepts played a major role in being passed over for the main squad again.
Related: County Conversation: "A rough week at Blackpool"
Callum Parkinson bowled well in Abu Dhabi for England Lions (Getty Images)
"I think I might have messaged my agent and been like 'is this legit?'" Parkinson told The Cricketer's County Conversation podcast of the initial reports.
"And the feedback I got was like, [you're] in the mix. But then there's probably three or four in the mix off the back of the Abu Dhabi trip, you know, Shoaib and Tommy and myself and young Jack Carson at Sussex.
"I bowled pretty well in Abu Dhabi and then Bash nipped in at the last.
"He's obviously a special, special bowler and he bowled really well in the tour match at the end of that Abu Dhabi trip - he out-bowled me and Jack.
"They made the right decision, you know, I watch Shoaib bowl and he was born to bowl off-spin.
Shoaib Bashir was taken instead of Parkinson (Getty Images)
"I never for one minute thought they'd take three left-arm spinners, I know that's what the initial article was.
"Obviously you get a little bit excited when you see the piece but at the same time, I didn't feel like I was that close to warrant getting excited.
"I think my big frustration with the winter was probably not believing in myself enough in India, probably putting a bit too much pressure, especially when Leach went down injured.
"Probably put a bit too much pressure on myself in the two games that we played and probably feel like I missed a bit of an opportunity there, but I can sleep at night because I tried my best and it wasn’t quite good enough for them four weeks in India.
"But that's fine, keep working and move forward."
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