Ludhiana man who bowled to 12-year-old Shubman Gill set to play against him for UAE

“I have known Shubman since he was a kid, but I don’t know if he remembers me,” Simranjeet Singh, the left-arm spinner from UAE recollects with a shy smile.

On the eve of the biggest moment of his cricketing career, an Asia Cup game against India here, the 35-year-old from Ludhiana, distinctly remembers a talented 12-year-old, who would come for training at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) nets in Mohali.

“It was around 2011-12 and Shubman must have been 11 or 12 at the max. We used to train at the PCA Academy in Mohali from 6am to 11am. Shubman would come accompanied by his father at around 11 am.”

“I was someone who would also do a lot of extra bowling after our session. Don’t know if he would recognise me but during those days, I had bowled a lot to Shubman,” said the journeyman cricketer, whose life changed decisively during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 35-year-old slow left-arm orthodox bowler is a crafty customer according to UAE head coach Lalchand Rajput.

“Not every left-arm spinner in T20Is has the heart to give the ball air and flight it consistently. Simran knows how to buy wickets with flight,” Rajput said about the Punjab man, who has 15 wickets from 12 T20Is with an economy rate of less than six.

Against Afghanistan as recently as September 5, he had decent figures of 1/24 with 11 dot balls.

“I played a lot of district cricket in Punjab. I had finally made it to the Ranji probables in 2017. I had also bowled a lot at the erstwhile Kings XI Punjab nets whenever they had sessions in Mohali back in the day,” he recalled.

Not getting the breakthrough perhaps made him realise that his dreams to play for India may not be realised.

And then COVID-19 turned Simranjeet’s life upside down.

“I had an offer to practice in Dubai and I had come here for 20 odd days in April, 2021. And then the massive second wave hit and there was another lockdown in India. I couldn’t go back for months and eventually ended up staying back,” Simranjeet said.

To be able to qualify playing for the UAE, Simranjeet needed to play three seasons of domestic cricket and once he fulfilled the criteria, he contacted head coach Lalchand Rajput, requesting him for a trial.

“From 2021, once I settled down in Dubai, I started earning decent money through coaching junior players. I was playing club cricket and coaching juniors. That way, I was able to run my household.”

“Once I got into the UAE team, I got a central contract with Emirates Cricket Board and things are looking good,” he said.

Simranjeet is a devout Sikh and said that UAE gave him all the freedom to practice his religion.

“This is a great country. Had I faced any problem, I wouldn’t have represented UAE. My religion is respected. No one has questioned my beard or my kara, why I keep a kirpan,” he said.

He starts laughing when asked which team his family would support when the UAE takes on India on Wednesday.

“That’s a tough one. The dream was to play for India but now that I am playing for UAE, I think they will support UAE,” he chuckled.