An Indian-born all-rounder, who’s only in his second year of playing with a hard ball, has rocketed up the rankings with 10 wickets in the past three games.
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Dapinder Singh claimed 3-27 and then top-scored with 32 in New City’s shock win over Tallangatta.
“He’s our cult hero at the moment,” coach Nick McDonald said.
“He came over from Howlong and bowls medium-pace seamers.”
And the 27-year-old is loving the responsibility.
“As you know everyone from India has such a passion for cricket,” he said.
“I train and play with a passion, and the boys are loving it.”
Singh has played only four provincial matches.
“I really wanted to play, and the new coach Nick (McDonald) listened to me,” he said.
“Both Nick and the captain (Rod Heriot) believe in me, and (bowling coach) Barry (McDonald) has been working with me on my run-up and action and really helping me out.”
Singh arrived in Australia by himself as an 18-year-old student.
“I came here for study, I like it here, and Australia is now my home,” Singh said.
He played in India, but didn’t play again until a friend joined Howlong.
“This is only my second year of playing with a hard ball,” he said.
“In India, we would play with a ball like you use in indoor cricket.”
This is only my second year of playing with a hard ball. In India, we would play with a ball like you use in indoor cricket.
- Dapinder Singh
It’s obviously working as Singh has gone from sitting 24th on the district second grade wicket-takers with 19, to just outside the top 15 at provincial level.
He has 11 scalps with the best strike rate of anyone inside the top 20, taking a wicket every 16.73 balls.
“I want to thank my wife Sandeep and her daughter Simi, they’ve been a great support to me,” he said.
Team-mate Callum Langlands believes the three-wicket win over the Bushies, which snapped a 16-match losing streak dating back to October, 2015, will kick-start a new era for the club.
But coach McDonald, who took over recently from former Wagga star Anthony Baker, says the work started last April.
“We built an indoor net and we’ve been able to do a fair bit of specialist coaching since then,” he said.
“We’re taking a new direction, our mission statement is we want to become a strong club, inclusive of all our players.
“We set targets that we can achieve.
“But basically, we are sick of being the easybeats.”