Virat Singh, the Jharkhand batsman, who was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the recently concluded IPL auction by a whopping 1.9 crores, has said that he was ‘surprised’ to see his price increase. Singh was with his Ranji Trophy teammates celebrating their victory over Assam when he got the news.
“I’m extremely happy to have finally been picked by an IPL franchise after a lot of struggle. I had been trying for the last two-three years, and that finally happened this year. It was quite surprising for my bid to escalate the way it did. Obviously they must have noticed something special in me, which is why they went the full distance,” he said to Firstpost.
Virat Singh gave the credit of his development as a batsman to his tenure in England where he played for the CM Park Cricket Club in the Durham County League.
“Very happy that us statemates are part of the same IPL team,” said Singh.”This will be my first year in the IPL, while he has been playing in the tournament for many years now, and has also represented India, so he has a lot of experience. So I hope to receive a lot of support from him, and that he shares his IPL experience with me.”
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However, he also added that his focus is now on the Ranji Trophy season with Jharkhand.
“Now that the celebrations are over, I am back on track as far as cricket is concerned, and have already resumed my practice for Ranji Trophy. Not thinking about IPL yet, which still is a few months away,” he said.
“My main focus is currently on our Ranji campaign. The current Jharkhand side is a good one in terms of talent and balance, and hopefully this year we will qualify for the knockouts and go as far as reaching the final and even lift the trophy,” Virat Singh said.
“Every cricketer dreams of playing for India one day, and I’m no different in this regard. For now, I am focussed completely on the Ranji Trophy, followed by the IPL. I will catch the national selectors’ attention if I perform well in both. The rest is upto the selectors. My job is to perform,” he concluded.
