The biggest cricketing gala event is here and underway in action. While the Men in Blue are gearing up for the warm-up matches before the ultimate battle games, there are many things more interesting about the ICC World T20. Oman’s Ludhiana-born batter Jatinder Singh recently went viral on social media for mimicking Indian opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan’s famous ‘thigh-five’ celebration after taking a catch on the field during Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) innings on October 17. While fans of the cricketing world are well-versed with Singh, others were curious to know more about this Indian cricketer playing for Oman. In that match, Singh played an unbeaten knock of 73 runs off 42 balls to help Oman score a ten-wicket over PNG.
His father Gurmail Singh immigrated to Oman in 1975 to join the Royal Oman Police Force as a carpenter. His mother Paramjeet Kaur and three siblings immigrated to the country in the Middle East in 2003. The next year saw Singh joining the cricket team of Indian School in Muscat. Singh’s cricketing journey began as a player who would play junior cricket for teams like Sidiq Jewellers. He made his senior debut for Oman in January 2011, aged 20, playing two matches in the WCL Division Three tournament.
Apart from playing cricket, he works with Khimji Ram Das company and looks after corporate affairs. “During my time in India too, I was passionate about cricket and would play gully cricket with my cousins. I always liked watching Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag bat. It was only here in Muscat that I started playing cricket for my school team and later for corporate teams as a junior as well senior cricketer. Cricket in Oman sees teams competing at the corporate level and national team cricketers are not highly paid like India. I joined Arabian industries in 2011 before joining Khimji Ram Das Company in 2014 and now I work in the administration department. After the practice sessions in the morning, I have to be on my job from 8.30 am to 5 pm,” shares Singh.
Eventually, Singh made his T20 debut in ICC League 2 in 2012 before making his T20I debut against Afghanistan in Dublin in 2015. Since the 2012 World T20 Qualifier, Singh has featured regularly for Oman in ACC and ICC limited-overs tournaments. He grew up following Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, as his cricket icons. “Whenever I play wearing the Oman jersey, I tell my family that now they have two countries to support in cricket,” Singh was recently quoted saying in an interview.
Subhro Majumder is a Content Writer who is a sports and technology enthusiast. His other varied interests often sway him into reading about history, politics and international relations.
