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Cricket brings Canada-born Punjabi to Jalandhar
Chandigarh, April 17 In town, as a member of the under-19 Twenty20 Cricket Federation of the India ‘A’ team, Navrozepreet will participate in the tournament which is to be held from April 19 to 22 at different venues in the city. Navrozepreet moved to Jalandhar in April 2006 in search of better facilities and coaching. Sharing his experience, this middle-order left handed batsman and right hand medium pace bowler said, “My decision to come here was right. I have improved my game. The atmosphere and attitude towards cricket is more serious and result-oriented here than in Canada.” Navrozepreet has been playing league cricket for the past two years. Born and brought up in Vancouver, Canada, Navroz’s viewfinder in cricket was through his father Gurpreet Singh’s occasional matches on television. Starting out in Canada, he played under-18 matches for British Columbia Club and after moving to Jalandhar, he played the under-17 nationals as part of the Punjab team in Kanpur in January 2007. “It was a nice experience to be part of the Punjab team and we made our presence felt in the tournament,” he said. His coach Devinder Arora is all praise for his protégé, “He is a rare combination of a left-hand batsman and a right-handed bowler. He is a very determined guy.” Navrozepreet also played in the Nepal Friendship Cup as part of the under-19 India ‘A’ team. He is working on being an all-rounder and a fast bowler and wants to represent India in the 2011 World Cup.
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‘More tournaments at school level needed’
Chandigarh, April 17 About the future plans, apart from the national Twenty20 tournament, he said, “We are organising a series in Sri Lanka in the end of April and this will be followed by a world series in September.” Describing his association with cricket, Sihota said, “I migrated to Vancouver, Canada, in 1984 and casually began playing domestic cricket for Richmond Club over there. Later I even played for the British Columbia Club. “We are very particular about the fact that matches will be played with the white ball and players will wear coloured uniforms. This is mandatory for the hot weather conditions too,” said Sutixen Mehta, the general secretary and core founder member of the federation. Sutixen, studied in Sanjay Public School, Chandigarh, and did his graduation from SD College, Chandigarh. “I have been playing cricket since 1992. In my experience, it is at the school level where we need to hone the skills for the game. More and more tournaments at the school level should be organised but with compliance to proper rules and regulations, he said. Sutixen, shot into the limelight when he played under-14 cricket for the nationals of the School Federation of India from 1995-96. In 1999-2001, he played for the nationals for the same federation for the under-16 category and the C.K Nayadu Trophy. He played for the under-19 Koochvihar Trophy three times for Haryana. He got a chance to play Ranji Trophy matches in Guwahati in 2001. “Though we are not yet associated with the BCCI, but since we are affiliated with the World Twenty20 Cricket Federation, we are in a capacity to include our players in the county cricket league at Canada, Sri Lanka, South Africa etc. This international exposure would definitely help players to get acquainted with global cricketing,” he said.
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