Forged in fire of rejection, Dilpreet finds solace in Canada

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, June 11

Dilpreet Singh Bajwa has been forged in the fire of rejection. The Gurdaspur-born cricketer was repeatedly rejected by Punjab during his early years, and consequently had to bury his dreams of wearing India’s colours.

All along those wretched years little did he know that he would be playing in a World Cup.

As things stand now, Bajwa is a Canadian middle-order batter, has rubbed shoulders against the world’s best playing in the ongoing T20 World Cup, and it will only get extra copacetic when he takes the field against India this Saturday.

Back in Punjab, he was a regular on the domestic circuit. Turning out for Gurdaspur, a lowly placed team in the state’s junior circuit, Bajwa once scored an unbeaten 130 against a fancied Patiala. The skill was there to see for all, but luck wasn’t on his side.

He and his coach, Rakesh Marshall, who nurtured Bajwa’s skills on the premises of Gurdaspur’s Government College, were convinced that the innings would be enough to catapult him to the state Under-19 squad. However, it wasn’t meant to be.

Unfazed, he carried on honing his skills while doing his schooling in Batala, Dhariwal and Gurdaspur.

Despite setbacks, Marshal continued to encourage his protégé. In the inter-district Katoch Shield tournament, which serves as a basis for selection in the Punjab Ranji Trophy team, Bajwa gave some impressive performances. However, the selectors again decided to shut the door on him, citing one excuse after another.

The pain of rejection slowly started haunting the youngster.

Finally, in 2022, his mother Harleen Kaur, an employee with the state Agriculture Department, decided to migrate to Canada with her son and reunite with Bajwa’s father Harpreet Singh. Harpreet had migrated to Canada in 2010 and drove a truck to ensure financial stability for his family.

She never lost belief in her son’s abilities and knew he had enough talent to play international cricket. Her prophecy proved true as a year later Bajwa was selected to play for Montreal Tigers in the Global T20 Canada. A few months later, with some solid displays of batting under his belt, Dilpreet struck gold when he got a call from the Canadian selectors to play in the T20 qualifiers held in Bermuda.

From that point on, he never looked back. And if he makes it big against India, one shouldn’t be surprised.

On top of world

Bajwa, who was in India last month, said once a selector ridiculed him, saying he had a faulty grip, no game sense and hence he could not be considered for selection in the Punjab team. “I play with the same grip, have the same cricketing sense and see I am playing in a World Cup now,” he said. “It is high time the selectors start playing a straight bat when it comes to dealing with the future of young cricketers,” he added.