Player of the Match debutant Amanjot Kaur recalls dad’s sacrifices

Amanjot Kaur

The unbeaten 41-run knock in her India debut was "unreal" for debutant Amanjot Kaur as the young Punjab all-rounder recalled the sacrifices of her father Bhupinder Singh and coach Nagesh Gupta.

A carpenter-cum-contractor, Singh who had enrolled Amanjot into a cricket academy as her ‘passing interest', had to quit half of his work to ensure that his daughter's training does not get hampered.

Gupta, who honed Amanjot's batting skills, made some tough calls and made her switch back to star-studded Punjab and leave her captaincy job in Chandigarh, a gamble that paid off as she was picked for the Indian team.

Also read: India squad for ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023, tri-series in South Africa announced

"It's such an unreal feeling. Never ever I thought of getting the player-of-the-match award on my debut. I never expected it," Amanjot said after guiding India to a tense 27-run win over South Africa in the Women's T20 Tri-series opener here on Friday.

"My dad played a big role in my career. Initially, he thought it was just a passing phase and my interest in cricket will gradually wane. He never thought I would play for India. I was bent upon proving myself in cricket," she recalled.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever