Anmol talent makes his hometown Patiala proud

 Aman Sood

Patiala, February 10

Anmolpreet Singh is a very happy young man. Until yesterday, he’d got only one chance to play in the Under-19 World Cup. But the bad form of Ricky Bhui forced coach Rahul Dravid to make a difficult decision in the semifinals yesterday — he opted to drop Bhui and include Anmolpreet in the playing XI. Dravid could make the decision to play Anmolpreet in this do-or-die match only because he was confident about the Patiala lad’s abilities. On a grassy wicket, Dravid chose Anmolpreet for the crucial No. 3 spot.

Anmolpreet justified Dravid’s confidence in him — he bagged the Man of the Match award for his brilliant 72-run knock that helped India defeat the formidable Sri Lanka.

The 17-year-old made a battling 72 on a green wicket that was helping the Lankan pace bowlers. He came in to bat at 23/1, and soon the score was 27/2 as captain Ishan Kishan fell for 7. But Anmolpreet’s partnerships of 96 with Sarfaraz Khan and 70 with Washington Sundar laid the foundation of the Indian total of 267, which the team defended with ease. In the final, India will face the winner of the second semifinal between Bangladesh and West Indies.

Talking with The Tribune, Anmolpreet said that despite being ignored for several matches in the tournament, he was certain that he’d get an opportunity to shine. “I had scored 41 in the last match,” he said. “And now I’ve made 72 in the semifinals. It was a tough task (against Sri Lanka) as the wicket had double pace and was slow after the initial bounce in the morning. I am celebrating but our prime focus now is on the final.” 

He added that coach Dravid has been instrumental in keeping the team focused entirely on cricket.  

Back in Patiala, his coaches are ecstatic. “Watch out for this batsman as he plays sensibly but can be devastating in the death overs. He has the ability to hit sixes and once he settles in, he can play long innings,” says his mentor Sunil Saggi.

“I am very happy for him as he is a hard-working young cricketer who has been a run machine in domestic cricket, scoring tons of runs in the past three seasons,” said Patiala District Cricket Association secretary RP Pandove. 

Late chance

“Initially I was not part of the first XI which was selected in the group league matches, but I was picked to replace the out-of-form Ricky Bhui,” said Anmolpreet. “There was no looking back for me as I was eagerly waiting for an opportunity. I would really have liked to score a ton but winning a game is what matters the most. The ball had been doing a lot in the morning and batting first against the pacers is not easy.”

Anmolpreet first grabbed the headlines last year for his record-breaking 1154 runs in the Cooch Behar U-19 national tournament. He was named the Under-19 Cricketer of the Year by the BCCI for this performance. Before that, in the 2013-14 season, when the Punjab U-19 team won the Vinoo Mankad Trophy, he was the star with 79 in the final against West Bengal.

Anmolpreet is the son of former India handball player Satwinderpal Singh, a sub-inspector with Punjab Police. Satwinderpal Singh received the Maharaja Ranjit Singh State Award in 2007.