The Accidental Hero Shashank Singh
There is a proverb in Hindi “Kabhi kabhi wrong train bhi sahi jagah pahucha deti hai” which means sometimes even the wrong train can take a person to the right place. The adage mentioned above is exactly applicable in the life of cricketer Shashank Singh, who succeeded in giving Punjab a dramatic 3-wicket victory in the match between Gujarat and Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
There were two players named Shashank Singh in the IPL auction held in Dubai last December. One is 19-year-old Shashank Singh from Punjab and the other is Shashank Singh, 32-year-old player from Chhattisgarh. During the auction of players, the name of 32-year-old Shashank Singh came up. His price was Rs. 20 lakhs. No club showed interest in buying him, but in the end, the owner of Punjab Kings Ness Wadia and Bollywood actress Preity G Zinta bid him for Rs. 20 lakhs.
After no other club bid on his name, 32-year-old Shashank was immediately signed by Punjab. But after a few minutes of signing him to their club, the team of Punjab soon realized that he was not the Shashank that Punjab wanted to buy. In particular, Punjab wanted to buy another 19-year-old young Shashank, but as both players had the same name, Punjab decided to buy 32-year-old Shashank.
After that, Punjab asked the IPL team to cancel the contract as their team bought another player by mistake, but Punjab’s request was rejected saying that once a player can’t be canceled, 32-year-old Shashank was signed to Punjab. This incident created a stir in India and other countries at that time.
The 32-year-old Shashank, who joined Punjab due to this mistake, made a dramatic comeback for his team in a game that had been blown out of his hands and won by 3 wickets in the match that ended yesterday. Shashank smashed 6 fours and 4 sixes while playing a brilliant innings of 61 runs off 29 balls in the match against Gujarat yesterday.
He shared 43 runs off 22 balls with another batsman Ashutosh Sharma. New comer Ashutosh Sharma supported him from the other end brilliantly. Sharma, played a terrific knock of 31-runs off just 17 deliveries. His hitting further took Punjab Kings near the total, but the batter was dismissed off the first delivery of the final over, bringing the pressure back on the Punjab Kings. Punjab needed one run in two balls. Shashank smashed the shot got a run and Punjab won by 3 wickets.
“I couldn’t get much matches before, last to last year for SRH but the management, the coaching staff here has really backed me and I was very confident,” Shashank said.
Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan also praised Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma for this nerve wrecking victory. “We lost wickets early and Shashank came and played a tremendous knock. When you are chasing a big total, you have to keep the momentum going. Shashank showed his class, magnificent knock. He timed the ball so nicely, it looked effortless, Dhawan said.
Shashank, who joined Punjab by mistake due to having the same name, has now become a hero of Punjab overnight. Now he has been the talk of the town.
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