Punjab’s newly appointed vice-captain Mandeep has bigger things in perspective

While talking to Sportline during the ongoing Punjab Ranji preparatory camp at the PCA stadium in Mohali,Mandeep spoke about his plans and preparations for the upcoming season. “The last one year has been a learning curve in my career. I might have had a decent Ranji and IPL season but I still feel that I could have done better than that. There are few areas I would like to improve upon and make amendments in order to be more effective on the field. Also,I suppose that I have become a mature and a thinking cricketer now. I need to score more runs in this season” said Singh.

Adding on further,Singh said,”Earlier,I did not know what was happening around me and I used to think my job was to go out there,play my strokes and score quickly. As a result,I was getting out in 40s and 50s. But having spent hours training and talking about all aspects of the game extensively with Vikram Rathore made me become a thinking batsman. I would say that Vikram Paaji was instrumental in transforming me as a cricketer. It was he who identified my loose areas and motivated me on them.”

Mandeep is someone who has done well at all three formats of the game with utmost perfection in the past for the state team and also at the U-19 international level. Former India Test cricketer Rathore,who coached Punjab senior team last season played a vital role in shaping up Mandeep into an all-round cricketer. Now that Rathore has been named a national selector,Singh believes that Rathore’s services will be missed by the team. He felt,”Paaji was like a wall standing behind me. I would discuss almost everything with him. The fact that I scored heavily in IPL and managed to score big scores in Ranji Trophy can be attributed to him. When down or in doubt,I would turn to him. I know that he won’t be there this time around but,I will definitely keep in touch with him over the phone.”

Mandeep has played 13 first-class matches for Punjab and North Zone,scoring 1074 runs at an average of 63. He had a successful IPL 2012 for Kings XI Punjab,finishing the season as the tenth-highest run-scorer with 432 runs at a strike rate of 126. Seeing his IPL exploits,Mandeep was included in the India World T-20 probables,but could not make the final cut. His batting prowess was acknowledged when he was drafted in the India A tour for New Zealand last month. Playing against New Zealand A team,Mandeep managed to hit 193 runs in one of the innings during the tour.

Sharing his experience of playing in New Zealand for the India A team,Mandeep felt,”Though I have had experience of playing on the New Zealand surfaces,I gained lot of confidence by scoring there this time against good pace bowlers. International exposure always makes one a better cricketer. Right now,my focus is to perform for Punjab at the domestic circuit and give my best shot. I would not like to think beyond performance and delivering the goods at this point of time.”

On Vikram Rathore

“Paaji was like a wall standing behind me. I would discuss almost everything withhim. The fact that I scored heavily in IPL and managed to score big scores in Ranji Trophy can be attributed to him. When down or in doubt,I would turn to him. I know that he won’t be there this time around but,I will definitely keep in touch with him over the phone”