In white-ball cricket, Virat Singh is a dynamic left-handed batsman who can bat at No. 3 and finish an innings. The gifted southpaw had just missed out on the U-19 express, but his creativity has finally gotten him to the place he so richly deserves. This season, Virat Kohli is expected to make his IPL debut.
Career
Domestic Career
Singh made his debut for Jharkhand in all three forms when he was 16 years old. He was attempting to break into the India Under-19 team at the time, with the aim of competing in the 2016 U-19 World Cup. His preparations were put on hold after he was diagnosed with appendicitis. Virat scored a maiden first-class century in his second match since making his Ranji Trophy debut against Assam in December 2014, displaying his mettle on the main stage.
In the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2016-17, Singh was captained by MS Dhoni. That season, Jharkhand made it to the semi-finals, but Singh had a poor tournament, scoring just 50 runs in six innings. Singh got a job with the Seaham Park Cricket Club in the Durham League in 2018 with the assistance of Jharkhand coach Rajiv Kumar.
The hard-hitting middle-order hitter had a Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament to recall, ending the 2019-20 season as the eighth-highest run-getter with 343 runs in ten games at an average of 57.16, the best in Jharkhand.
IPL Career
Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians, and Rajasthan Royals were all interested in him. In a Sunrisers trial, he hit four sixes and four fours in a slog-overs scenario (between overs 14 and 20) and assisted in the capture of 70 runs in six overs. Impressed by Virat’s success in the trials, SRH and Kings XI Punjab engaged in a bidding war that saw Virat’s signing price increase to INR 1.9 crore, almost ten times his base price of INR 20 lakhs. The youngster will be rubbing elbows with the best in the industry during the 2020 IPL season, which will be a massive learning curve for him.
Background
In the backyard of their home, Virat and his brother used to play cricket. Vinod Singh, Virat’s father, was fed up with his house’s constantly shattered windowpanes, so he enrolled both of his sons in the free Jharkhand Cricket Academy, and the rest, as they claim, is history.