Jalandhar2 hours agoWriter: Sunil Rana
There is a family in Jalandhar, Punjab, which is completely dedicated to the ‘Game of Gentleman’ i.e. cricket. In this family, from grandfather, tau to grandson, nephew, there are all fine cricketers and almost all of them have played Ranji. The atmosphere in the house is also full of cricket.
As soon as he regains consciousness in the house, the bat is handed over to the child. As he grows up, his practice level also increases in the same manner. Yes, from this family, Harnoor, who rocked his batting in the ongoing Under-19 Championship in UAE. Cricket is in Harnoor’s genes, because while his father Veer Inder Singh and grandfather Sardar Rajinder Singh have played Ranji, they are also good coaches.
Harnoor’s uncle Harminder Singh Pannu is the Level-2 coach in BCCI while Harnoor’s other uncle Jaiveer Singh has also been a Ranji player. Dada Sardar Rajinder Singh has been the joint secretary of Punjab Cricket Association as well as being the best cricket coach of Punjab, as well as he has also been a member of the Cricket Selection Committee.
Grandson taught batting tricks to grandson
Harnoor’s grandfather Sardar Rajinder Singh and father Veer Inder Singh
Even though his father Veer Indra and uncle Harminder Pannu contributed to bring Harnoor, who scored century on century in Under-19, to the world of cricket, but the hard work of Harnoor’s grandfather Sardar Rajinder Singh cannot be forgotten. Ever since Harnoor regained consciousness, Dada laid the foundation of cricket in him. Waking up every morning, he started the work of teaching Harnoor the technical tricks of cricket.
According to coach Rajinder Singh, he had taught Harnoor how to counter the ball at such a speed by throwing the ball at a speed of 125 to 130-35 from the machine on a pitch with a cement net, it was in the under-14 itself. This is the reason that today in Under-19 bowlers who give pace from 140 to 145, Harnoor takes the ball out of the boundary.
From the very beginning, Harnoor was passionate about the game.
File photo of Harnoor with his uncle and cricket coach Harminder Pannu
Harnoor’s grandfather Rajinder Singh and father Veer Inder Singh told that Harnoor had a lot of passion for cricket since childhood. Getting up in the morning to go to the ground with his grandfather and father, it has been Harnoor’s hobby to bat there. Since there was already an atmosphere of cricket in the house, gradually Harnoor became a professional cricketer by adapting to the atmosphere on his own.
Harnoor’s father Veer Inder Singh said that Harnoor practices for two hours in the morning and evening. His practice of two hours is not a common practice but a hard practice. These days Harnoor, a first year student in Chandigarh, is learning the tricks of cricket by staying with his uncle Harminder Pannu, who is a Level-2 coach in the BCCI and is playing for Chandigarh.
Started playing cricket at the age of eight
Harnoor with Vijay Merchant Trophy
Harnoor’s father Veer Inder Singh is himself a Ranji player as well as a good coach. He told that the atmosphere in his house is such that when the child regains consciousness, he is not told whether to become a doctor or an engineer, but to play cricket. If you are not able to succeed in this, then further thought will be given. He told that Harnoor started playing cricket at the age of eight. Harnoor’s grandfather coach Rajinder Singh used to teach him the drills and basics of cricket at home. At the age of ten, when it seemed that now he could play well, he started playing for Chandigarh club.
Harnoor’s uncle Harminder Pannu started training him there, because he, being a Level-II coach, knows what is the new update in cricket and how to practice. It was because of him that Harnoor performed very well in the under-16s. Scored more than 400 runs in Vijay Merchant Trophy. Then after the selection in the team of Under-19 Chandigarh scored four hundred runs. Playing against Maharashtra in Vinoo Mankad Trophy, he scored 110 not out and also holds the record of more than 400 runs in Challenger Trophy.
Harnoor’s uncle is Bhupinder Singh Jr.
Bhupinder Singh Jr., who holds the world record for scoring two hundred more runs while sharing the second wicket partnership in domestic cricket, is also Harnoor’s uncle. Harnoor’s father Veer Inder Singh told that his grandfather Sardar Mahinder Singh was also a Ranji player and after that he was also the secretary of Chandigarh Cricket Association for many years. His younger son is Bhupinder Singh Jr, whose record of 200 runs in Ranji has not been broken till date.
Taya’s elder son Gurpreet Singh is also a Ranji player. Further, two of Gurpreet’s children have also played in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy and are now doing well in the Vijay Hazare Championships. He said that we have full hope from Harnoor that he too will make a record in Ranji.
Teaching cricket to children even at the age of 87
Even though coach Sardar Rajinder Singh is 87 years old, he still looks young in sight. Even at this stage of age, the voice has the same tinkling and the same tone. Sardar Rajinder Singh, who has coached the country’s famous spinner bowler Bishan Singh Bedi to star cricketers like Bikram Rathor, Ashwini Minna, it is the craze for cricket that even today he has not lost his fascination with the field of play. Coach Rajinder Singh, who has shown the path of Ranji to many cricket players, is now teaching cricket tricks to children even at the age of 87.
He has also been the mentor of Harbhajan Singh’s cricket guru Devender Arora. Even after retirement, instead of resting at home, he makes children practice by putting a ball throwing machine on the cemented pitch near the house. Sardar Rajinder Singh told that he belongs to Tarn Taran, a very backward region of Punjab. After leaving there, he played the first Ranji match in 1960 on the strength of hard work. He told that he played in Ranji four times. After this, after taking training from NIS, he became a coach.
After becoming a coach, he served as a cricket coach in DAV College, Jalandhar for thirty-five years. After this he was joint secretary of Punjab Cricket Association (PCA). He has also been a member of the cricket selection team in the state.
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