Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Would continue to play aggressive brand of cricket, says Prabhsimran Singh

Young cricketer Prabhsimran Singh is confident of doing well in the upcoming IPL and credited seniors in the Punjab set-up for backing him to play his aggressive brand of cricket.

Prabhsimran Singh hones his wicket-keeping skills during a practice session.

Till recently, Anmolpreet Singh and Prabhsimran Singh - cousins in a joint family in Patiala - would train at the make-shift handball court in their backyard, at times against their wishes.

After all, Satvinder Singh, Anmolpreet’s father and a former India handballer, desired the next generation in his family follows his footsteps.

Over the last three years, the handball court in the backyard has been replaced with cricket nets, with Anmolpreet and Prabhsimran emerging as the youngsters to watch out for in Indian domestic cricket.

But despite focussing more on cricket, the cousins who stole headlines at the Indian Premier League auction - with Kings XI Punjab outbidding Mumbai Indians for a whopping Rs. 4.8 crore to sign Prabhsimran and Anmolpreet joining Mumbai Indians for Rs. 80 lakh - haven’t lost touch with handball.

READ: Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Mumbai knocks out Saurashtra to enter Super League stage

Nowadays, with both the youngsters being regulars on India’s exposure tours - Anmolpreet at the senior level while Prabhsimran leading India Under-19 - hit the handball academy of Satvinder whenever they want to take a break from cricket and all the cricket-related talk in the household.

“We tend to take our mind off the game by playing football or handball. In the last few years, with the injuries that are likely to happen during football, it’s handball most of the times. My bade pa (big daddy, Satvinder) is a handball coach so we go to their ground to play and relax a little bit,” says Prabhsimran, who made his senior domestic debut during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

More than his wicket-keeping skills, Prabhsimran’s ability to hit a cricket ball hard has impressed one and all over the last year.

It was on display during his 20-ball 54 against Mumbai’s pace triumvirate of Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande earlier this week. The teenager credited seniors in the Punjab set-up for backing him to play his aggressive brand of cricket.

“It didn’t feel any different when I scored against Mumbai. With the style of my batting, I’ll score sometime or at times, I’ll get out early. I am glad it came off against Mumbai,” he said.

If the youngster learns to pick and choose his strokes, his stock would continue to rise beyond the IPL riches.