Popular for his powerful strokes and massive sixes, Mandeep Singh made his debut for India back in 2016 and the right-hand batsman has played for various franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has been an eminent player in the U-19 Indian Cricket Team.
Mandeep recently engaged with his fans in the ShareChat Audio Chatroom session- ‘CricChat powered by Parimatch’.
When discussing his career, Mandeep recalled his debut in the Indian team in 2016 and said: “I was playing in the IPL when I found out about my selection. My father always used to tell me, if I play cricket, I must play for India.”
He further added, “I met Mahi Bhai in the lift, one day prior to my debut and he asked me to be ready for the next day. Being on the ground was surreal.” He also stated that hitting sixes to Andre remains his greatest achievement to date.
Mandeep has been a part of various franchises such as the Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Speaking about his time at the Delhi Capitals, he said, “Ricky Ponting and Rishabh Pant have made Delhi Capitals an extremely professional franchise. Ponting loves discipline and commitments and treats everyone equally”.
Commenting on how Kohli has brought a fitness culture to the Indian team, he said, “When I joined RCB, I was shocked to see Virat Kohli’s intensity towards training. His fitness has been instrumental in making him a consistent performer in T20 cricket. It has helped the ballers improve and has helped test cricket overall.” He further discussed how playing IPL gave him financial stability and confidence.
During the discussion, Singh also discussed KL Rahul’s journey. “During his U-19 days, KL Rahul began working on his game and preparing for test cricket.”
Mandeep spoke highly of Suryakumar Yadav with reference to the Asia Cup. He inspired the audience with stories from his early days while being candid with his fans. Manish Batavia, a well-known cricket presenter and commentator, moderated the discussion.