The batter remembered being motivated by a talk with AB de Villiers
It’s been over two years since Mandeep Singh had been bought by an Indian Premier League (IPL). It’s been over a year since he has been let go by his state team Punjab after lifting the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
At 33, Mandeep can choose to follow a lot of other cricketers to play in the retired players’ leagues for big bucks. However, the former Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kings XI Punjab (Now Punjab Kings) man remained in the domestic circuit choosing to play for Tripura.
“Abhi nahi, abhi kaafi cricket baaki hai (Not now, there is plenty of cricket left in me),” he told Indian Express in an interview.
Despite ending Punjab’s 31-year-old trophy drought with a maiden SMAT title, Mandeep was taken off the teams list in a local tournament and from the squad that were training for the new season.
“I was not the captain of any of the teams in the Sher-E-Punjab T20 Cup (PCA’s T20 league). I was the captain of Punjab, which lifted the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. I let it go. Then my name was missing from the squad, which was going to Namibia for a pre-season camp,” Mandeep said.
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After swallowing the bitter pill, Mandeep said he remembered a conversation he had with South African legend AB de Villiers and coach Paddy Upton while he was at RCB.
“I watched a video by Paddy Upton, where he was saying in cricket, batters peak after turning 30. It took me back to the conversation I had with AB de Villiers. I vividly remember him saying, ‘Leave Virat Kohli alone. He’s an exceptional player. He peaked very early in his career. But, if you see, everyone else, 29, 30, even after that, batters generally hit their peak,” Mandeep said.
In the 2024 SMAT, he scored 138 runs in 7 matches at a strike rate of 133 and also made Tripura tick in a few games with 325 runs from 6 matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
In Ranji Trophy, he has so far scored 407 runs from 7 innings at an average of 101, including an unbeaten 124 in Tripura’s recent match against Services.
He felt making big sums of money in the IPL has taken the fire out of players who are in their early 30s. According to Mandeep, he doesn’t belong to that category as he is inspired by his former Under-19 teammates Karun Nair and Mayank Agarawal who are excelling for Vidarbha and Karnataka respectively. Mandeep argued that players who are doing well in domestic circles need to get a chance with India A to see if they can make an international comeback.
“Take the example of Karun Nair and Mayank Agarawal. They are my batchmates (U-19). I am not saying pick Karun directly in the India team, but keep him in the scheme of things. Select him for India A tours, the Duleep Trophy, and the Deodhar Trophy,” he said.
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