Mandeep Singh starts to hit the straps again after difficult phase

So what did he suggest?

“My head was falling over, which was affecting my balance when I was going for a drive. There were issues with my head position and my stance. He pointed out the small technical glitches in my batting. I hardly had time to fix it during the tournament, so Vikram paji suggested working extra hours in the nets. It worked out pretty well for me,” Mandeep tells The Indian Express.

In the next match against Haryana, he remained unbeaten on 159, and helped Punjab register an outright win. On Saturday, against Tripura, he scored 97 not out as Punjab successfully chased 240 in the fourth innings on a greenish Kotla surface. The victory also helped Punjab secure a quarterfinal spot.

🙏🏼🙏🏼 #RanjiTrophy #PUNvTRI pic.twitter.com/kEbLJofwwQ

— Mandeep Singh (@mandeeps12) March 6, 2022

Mandeep felt it was challenging to bat against Tripura in the fourth innings, given the conditions. Tripura was bowled out for 127 runs in their first innings, but they made a spirited fightback, bundled out Punjab for 120, and then scored 232 in their second innings, setting up the target of 240 on the pitch, where ball was seaming throughout the day. It was a tricky chase as 30 wickets had fallen in the first two days. In their second essay, Punjab lost both the openers Prabhsimran Singh (0) and Abhishek Sharma (15) cheaply, but Mandeep alongwith Anmolpreet Singh (64) dropped anchor and put on a cautious 99-run stand for the third wicket to steady the ship. Thereafter, a 38-ball 43 from Ramandeep took the game away from Tripura as Punjab chased down the target with six wickets to spare.

“The pitches against Himachal Pradesh and Tripura were more or less the same. The ball was doing a bit throughout the day. Tripura seamers, especially Manishankar Murasingh (6/48), bowled beautifully in the first innings. He kept bowling at the off stump line, and we kept nicking it either to the keeper or in the slip cordon,” says Mandeep, who scored 18 in the first innings.
“In the fourth innings, Murasingh was again the threat, but we neutralized him by playing cautiously. Myself and Anmolpreet, we hardly poked at any ball, which was outside the line of the off stump,” he adds.

Mandeep missed out on a well-deserved century as Tripura spread the field in the fag end of the chase. But the former Punjab captain recollects his late father Hardev Singh’s advice, “If you will come back not out, it means that your team is in a better position. These are the words of wisdom from my father, who always believed in team sports there is no ‘I.’ If my team is not winning, then there is nothing in the personal milestone. Punjab is in the quarterfinals, which is more satisfying for me,” says Mandeep, who has played 3 T20Is for India.

At the start of the season, Mandeep has told this paper that this will be a challenging season for him because he had not played red ball cricket for the past two years. The start of the season was also not ideal for him as he missed most of Punjab’s matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament due to dengue. A poor Vijay Hazare tournament followed. Then he tested positive for Covid.

“The Covid-19 made me very weak. After 2 weeks, I could not even lift my bat, and it took some time to regain my fitness. In the first week of February, I called up Baltej (Singh), Arshdeep (Singh) and our sidearm thrower Avinash to get some net practice at the PCA. I was struggling, be it in the nets or the sole practice match we played before entering the bubble of Ranji Trophy,” Mandeep recalled.

“I knew it was going to be difficult, probably the most challenging season for me. I decided I would not give away my wicket,cheaply no matter how much I am struggling. I was ready to toil. It was all about the mindset, and I am glad that I won this mini-battle,” he said.

In October 2020, Mandeep lost his father, Hardev Singh, while playing for Kings XI Punjab (Now Punjab Kings) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Dubai. Within a few hours of his death, an emotional Mandeep came out to play for his franchise, taking another step in fulfilling his late father’s dying wish to see his son make a comeback to the Indian cricket team. In January 2021, Mandeep’s wife, Jagdeep Jaswal, in London with her parents, gave birth to their first child. Mandeep had to miss one of his life’s most memorable moments. This is because he was leading Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Tournament in Bangalore at that time.

“I will have to live with the guilt of missing my father’s funeral and the birth of my son. But I want to fulfill my father’s dying wish, who even during his last stage was glued to the TV set so that he could watch me play. I am just living my father’s dream.”

Brief Scores: Tripura: 127 & 232 lost to Punjab: 120 & 240 for 4 (Mandeep Singh 97 not out, Anmolpreet Singh 64)