My aim was to get picked in India U19 team and not IPL: Prabhsimran Singh

He was driving back home alongwith his elder cousin Anmolpreet Singh from a three-hour net session in Patiala when Prabhsimran Singh was raking in a lot of bids at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction. As many as three teams went big for him before the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) finally snapped up the 18-year-old for a huge amount of Rs 4.8 crores.

Interestingly,Prabhsimran doesn’t have any first-class or T20 experience and didn’t even know that his name was shortlisted for the auction. He was recently with the India Emerging team in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and played well in the tournament. Moreover, he was extremely disappointed for being overlooked for the India U19 team and vented his frustration by scoring 298off just 301 balls in an U23 inter-district game against Amritsar.

Soon Prabhsimran was named in the India U19 team for the Asia Cup. But he wasn’t even aware that the IPL scouts were having a close look at him. Meanwhile, by the time he reached back home from the nets, his family and friends had gathered and a Bollywood song was doing the rounds in celebration.

“Sorry, sir. This was unexpected, everyone has suddenly started a party here,” Prabhsimran Singh said while speaking to ESPNCricinfo after getting picked in the IPL auction for such a huge price.

I can’t believe this

Prabhsimran Singh was over the moon after knowing that he was one of the most sought players in the auction. He also informed that IPL wasn’t in his mind as well for the fact that his main aim was to be in the India U19 team. “My realistic aim was to make the India Under-19 team, so I didn’t really think about the IPL. I don’t know how to react now, I’m not able to believe teams really bid so much for me. After a certain stage, I was like ‘yaar (man), I don’t even know how many zeroes are there!” the ecstatic teenager added.

To add to it, the youngster was also happy for his cousin Anmolpreet Singh who was signed up by Mumbai Indians for Rs 80 lakhs earlier in the event. “I was in fact more happy that Anmol had been picked, I’d started playing because of him,” Singh added.

What happened in the trials?

In September, he was called for the KXIP trials and were given two scenarios – a chase of 100 in 10 overs, and another needing 75 off eight overs. Prabhsimran Singh responded with two half-centuries in both the cases of 19 and 29 balls respectively and that boosted his chance of playing in the IPL. Speaking about the same he said, “At that time, I thought I’ve done my best, if I’m picked, good, if I’m not picked I’ll work harder.”

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