Published: Sep 27, 2015, 05:00 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 27, 2015, 05:01 PM (IST)
Gurkeerat Singh Mann admitted that he was surprised to get selected for the upcoming One-Day Internationals (ODIs) against South Africa, starting next month. The news was out when the all-rounder was playing for India A in the first one-dayer against Bangladesh A on September 16 in Bengaluru. Gurkeerat’s five-wicket haul had helped India A comfortably win that match by 96 runs after smashing a 58-ball 65 earlier in the day. The hosts won the three-match series 2-1 with a win in the third and final game after the visitors had bounced back in the second game, courtesy of Nasir Hossian’s century. READ: Gurkeerat is intelligent when it comes to picking his moments with the bat: coach
According to ANI, the 25-year-old said, “I feel there’s more strength in my batting, now that I’ve been selected as an all-rounder, I’m focussing on my bowling as well.” He played a match-winning knock of 114-ball 87 in the final that was played between India A and Australia A in the recently ended tri-series which also South Africa A. Before the crucial role with the bat, he had bagged the vital wickets of Joe Burns and Callum Ferguson, helping the likes of Sandeep Sharma, Akshar Patel and Dhawal Kulkarni, who are the regular faces of the India A bowling attack.
The Kings XI Punjab player, further added, “Sachin [Tendulkar] sir is a legend, not just me but many youngsters have been inspired by him.”
Gurkeerat’s long-time coach Sukhwinder Singh Tinku has a huge role to play in the current form of the youngster. “In terms of learning, he was certainly way ahead of other students. Whatever I used to teach him in batting technique, he used to correct it the very next day. When I realized that he was performing extraordinarily in his age group, I put him in the senior age group.” Tinku said. READ: Gurkeerat Singh gets reward of consistent domestic performances
