New Delhi, Feb 24 (IANS) Yuvraj Samra is not the type to dwell on yesterday’s headlines. Just days after the 19-year-old smashed New Zealand’s bowlers all over the park with a breathtaking 110 off 65 balls for Canada at the Men’s T20 World Cup in Chennai, Canada’s newest cricket sensation didn’t immediately fly back to his hometown, Toronto.
Instead, Samra, the youngest batter and first from the Associate Nations to score a century in the T20 World Cup, has been sweating it out and playing on different pitches in Mumbai since February 21 under the watchful eyes of Jwala Singh, the Mumbai-based coach who nurtured India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. Singh first spotted Samra’s talent on a video call organised by the latter’s father, Baljit.
“When I saw him online with his father a few years back, I told my staff that he is too good and doesn’t need an online session. Instead, he needs more of an offline session. His bat was coming very straight, his hands are so strong, and when I saw him playing against New Zealand, the way he smashed all those world-class bowlers, it showed that he has the right temperament to dominate at the international level as well,” Singh told IANS on a virtual call on Tuesday.
For Samra, the feeling is mutual. “Back home in Canada, it’s minus 20, and it snows for six months in a year. For us, it’s really tough playing indoors all the time, and I’m just really grateful to be here in Mumbai practising with Sir on different wickets here. As much as I can practice on these Mumbai wickets, it’s good, as it’s not that easy to bat on. If I can bat well, it’s a win anyway, and it’s been really good so far,” he said.
The contrast between where he trains at home and what he produced in Chennai is not lost on Singh, who sees Samra’s ability to adapt as the defining feature of his game. “It’s more so because coming from a country where for 6-7 months you are already in snow and not playing on proper turf wickets.
“You keep practising on extra turfs, where there is no turn, only bounce and pace. But coming to India and playing in different situations in Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Colombo, one can imagine that he adapts to the situations very well because it’s very hard to do so,” he noted.
Since arriving in Mumbai, Samra has already moved through multiple venues — the Air India ground, the Thane centre of Mumbai Cricket Club, run by Singh, as well as a session at the Oval Maidan on Tuesday — with the MCA’s BKC ground next on the itinerary for Wednesday. The variety of venues is deliberate, and Samra has taken it all in his stride.
“In my academy, there are kids who are always practising on the turning tracks. Still, they complain that the wicket has so much or so little turn. But this guy understands how to tackle and adapt to different conditions, and that’s really very impressive. I took him to the Air India ground, and he adjusted to those wickets, as well as to my Thane centre. Today we did a session at Oval Maidan, and tomorrow we are going to MCA’s BKC ground.
“So there is no difference at all. When you are playing well on different surfaces, that shows that he is mentally so good and he knows how to adjust, implement, and deliver his shots – so that’s the unique point he has because there are so many people who always have skills. But very few people can perform on the big occasions, and he is one of them,” said Singh.
With a T20 World Cup century already on the board at 19, Singh is not looking to overhaul anything. His focus now is on the mindset — keeping Samra, named after legendary Indian batting all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, hungry, grounded, and relentlessly consistent.
“Well, if somebody like Yuvraj, who’s already played in the World Cup, which is at the highest level and scores hundreds there, then most of the work has been done. It’s always important to keep their mind alive, motivating them to keep working hard and make them aware of how to become consistent because if you are thinking about playing international cricket, it’s all about consistency,” he said.
Singh also said Yuvraj showed unusually rapid progress in training, noting that within a day he had improved his back-foot play against short-pitched deliveries by nearly 20 per cent – a development that typically takes months for most youngsters.
He added that Samra’s ability to read the ball was exceptional, explaining that while many batters pick cues from the release point, the youngster tracks the ball from the bowler’s wrist and still manages to make late adjustments. Over four days of practice on varied surfaces, he said, the youngster consistently delivered, setting himself apart from peers.
Singh was characteristically direct about what separates players like Samra from those who fade after a bright start. “You have to score every day, and that’s how I really teach the players. I try to make them hungrier towards success. If you have scored 100 in the past, whether it was on February 17 or 18, it’s gone. Now we are on February 24 and need to think about today.
“You have to try to learn how to become consistent in terms of your cricket, social life, and handling others – as it’s very, very important because it’s not about playing good cricket, it’s about how good a human being you are — how you are carrying your emotions, treating others and these things also count to play for the long term.
“So, this is what I really work on and make them learn. But the most important thing is focus, because if you have focus, then all other expertise will align towards the goal. If you don’t have focus, everything will go on. I have seen many players — they started very, very well, but today they are nowhere. It’s all about focus and consistency, and mostly I try to build them as a good human, as well as how to become more consistent. Of course, they have skill; otherwise, without skill, you cannot survive at that level,” he elaborated.
Samra, for his part, appears to have absorbed those lessons already. Rather than basking in the adulation that followed his swashbuckling century in Chennai, he is using his time in Mumbai to prepare for what comes next, while taking a moment to acknowledge those who have cheered him along the way.
“First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone from Canada who supported me throughout my journey and watched my game against New Zealand. I just really thank you for that, and I want to say to all the kids that anything is possible if you work hard towards it. Anything you dream of can become true, and I feel like you should never stop working hard and always chase your dreams,” he concluded.
–IANS
nr/bsk/