RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore) Left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh, who joined the IPL in the second half and quickly made a significant impact, spoke about his emotional cricketing journey filled with many ups and downs and his bonds with star batter Virat Kohli.
In these six matches, Swapnil has played a vital role with his impactful batting performances, wicket-taking abilities. He has shared many insights about his emotional journey that can evoke sadness among his admirers. While introducing himself to the audience, Swapnil mentioned that although he was born in Lucknow, he has played for Baroda and currently represents Uttarakhand.
Singh said “My father was my first coach. I am playing Cricket because of him. It was his passion to make me play that made this all possible. I was in class sixth when I shifted to Baroda for my cricket. He wanted me to become a batsman. When I came to Baroda, I started to Bowl. I made my Ranji Debut at the age of 14 years and 355 days.”
Recollecting his bond with Virat, the all-rounder said that he has played U15 and U19 level Cricket with him. They were also roommates during tours to Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
He further said,” When I met him after so many years, it felt so warm. We were meeting after so many years, asked about life and families, It felt really good.”
Following that, he remembered one of the major adversities in his career. It was being dropped from the Baroda team in 2020, despite consistently performing well as a Versatile player.
He stated that the situation tuned out to be beneficial for him as it taught him to be self-reliant. Ex- Cricketer Irfan Pathan assisted him in locating another state, Uttarakhand to advance his career further. The 33-year-old said that Deepak Hooda, the all-rounder from Baroda, is like a brother to him. It was Deepak who reached out to Swapnil and assisted him in returning to IPL, as a bowler for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He mentioned that both Coach Andy Flower and Spin Coach Narendra Hirwani were satisfied with his bowling performance and granted him an opportunity to bat as well.
His batting also impressed the coaching staff.
He also discussed about the time when he lost confidence and almost gave up on himself. But his family informed him that he had been picked up by RCB which rejuvenated his spirits.
