Ludhiana, June 6
After a gap of 20 years, a cricketer from Ludhiana has been selected for the
prestigious national coaching camp. Gagandeep Singh Toor, a local medium fast bowler has been invited by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to attend a six-day camp to be held from July 7 to 12 at Bangalore in preparation for the Asia Cup.
A communique from the BCCI general secretary, Mr S K Nair, received by the Punjab Cricket Association reads that a fitness specific conditioning camp for the pace bowlers will be conducted at Bangalore in preparation for the forthcoming Asia Cup slated to be held in Sri Lanka next month. Earlier, gritty Yash Paul Sharma of Ludhiana donned the national colours and played more than 30 Test matches and about 50 One-Day Internationals.
Before leaving for Bangalore, an elated Gagandeep told the Ludhiana Tribune that he had been waiting for this opportunity for quite some time as he had performed well for the past three years in Ranji and Dulpeep Trophy tournaments. “I will go all out to grab this chance as at the conclusion of this camp, pace bowlers will be shortlisted for the upcoming tournament to be held in the island nation.”
“Though, there will be a tough competition for the pace bowlers since the established players like L Balaji, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra, Amit Bhandari and the upcoming Munaf Patel of Mumbai are also going to attend this camp, I, with God’s grace and best wishes of sport lovers in the state will try hard to secure a place for myself in the Indian squad,” added the tall-stoutly built player.
Mr Chaman Lal Malhotra, senior vice-president of the Ludhiana District Cricket Association (LDCA) and Chairman, Selection Committee, Punjab (seniors), who has the distinction of leading the Punjab Ranji team for more than two decades, expressed happiness on Gagan’s inclusion in the national preparatory camp. Praising Gagan’s ability to excel, Mr Malhotra expressed hope that in the company of senior palyers in the camp, this lad was destined to perform well and win laurels to the state as well the nation.
Gagagdeep Singh Toor, presently empolyed with the Indian Airlines and posted at Amritsar started playing cricket in 1994 when he represented the local S D P Senior Secondary School in the Ludhiana District Inter-School Cricket Tournament. Next year, Gagan gave an impressive performance during the National Schools Cricket Tournament (under-15 years). He played three matches and captured nine wickets, besides scoring one fifty. In the year 1996-97, Gagan exhibited great bowling skills when he participating in the Inter-District Cricket Meet scalped 17 victims.
Gagan, a trainee of international coach Charanjit Singh Channi ( DSO, Moga) made his debut at the national level in 1999-2000 session. He represented Punjab in the Ranji Trophy against Hyderabad, which had Mohammad Azharudin, Venkatpati Raju and VVS Laxman in the team. He played four matches and claimed 18 wickets. He followed it with another fine performance next year taking nine wickets in two matches (against Hayana and Delhi).
Same year, he took part in the Duleep Trophy (against West Zone at Mohali) and chipped in with two wickets. The following year (2002) was not good for this youngster as he could not play a single match due to a shoulder injury.
Last year, Gagan played six Ranji Trophy matches and came out with flying colours taking as many as 36 wickets with the best of five-wicket haul against the Central Zone. Besides, he played three matches in the Duleep Trophy and took nine wickets, taking the tally to 45 wickets in one season.
