Suhail Khan
Sopore , Mar 10 : The tide seems to be finally turning for the youth of Kashmir as many sports persons – especially in the game of Cricket, are being recognized from quite a while now and this time around it again is another Sopore youth, alongside 3 others who have made it big with having received a call from prestigious National Cricket Academy Bengaluru.
Ranjot Singh, an under-19 cricketer from North Kashmir’s Sopore area, is among the four players from Jammu and Kashmir who have been selected for the NCA by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
As learnt by Kashmir Despatch, the BCCI is set to conduct national-level camps to further hone the skills of budding players in junior age groups for both men and women. These camps will be conducted under the aegis of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) of the BCCI at different locations across the country from April 24 to May 18, 2023.
While talking exclusively to Kashmir Despatch, Ranjot Singh said that for the past five years, I have put my efforts into performing well on all the platforms wherever I have got a chance to play. He said I have played under-16 and under-19 teams in these years, but have been only in Ranji camps so far.
The Sopore cricketer said that last year I also got a chance to play for the Jammu and Kashmir Under-25 category.
Talking more about his journey, he said it has been very tough and very challenging because I live in a place where there is no such sports-related infrastructure besides a proper cricket academy. He said it was very hard, but with high hopes, I never gave up and tried my best at every level.
He said when I used to go to Sopore College Ground to practice and with the support of a local guy named Arif would give me bowling tips, later after a few months I went for the Under-14 trials in Srinagar, wherein I was not selected, but it nevertheless built some confidence.
Calling himself a Ravindra Jadeja fan, Ranjot said in the next year I got selected, thus another chapter of my life started, and since then I have continued to play on different platforms for Jammu and Kashmir and have never been dropped.
He said my dream is to play for the national team one day.
In his message, Ranjot asked the aspiring youth to work hard and urged them to believe in their hard work and move forward to follow their dreams and do the best for themselves, family, society, state, and nation in any given situation.
He also appealed to the cricketers from Kashmir, especially youth, not to play mat cricket more if they have a dream to achieve something.
Pertinently, Ranjot has been one of the most consistent performers for the U-19 team of J&K in the last 2 years. His notable contribution came last year when the left-arm spinner bowled a remarkable spell against Kerala and set a record for the best bowling figure in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy by picking 8 wickets for just 25 runs. His continuous performance with bat and ball eventually led to his selection in the NCA.
Apart from Ranjot, three more cricketers from the JKCA have been selected for the NCA camps. The other players include wicketkeeper-batter Rhydham Sharma from Poonch, talented leg spinner Ritvik Jaitely from Jammu and hard-hitting middle-order batsman Musaib Bhat from Pulwama.
Notably, the fresh development comes days after IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants called a Sopore boy to join its camp for trials.
