At just 22 years of age, Virandeep Singh can already reflect on his career and consider it a success. He has captained the Malaysia team in the 2016 Under-19 Asia Cup, became the leading run scorer for Malaysia in the 2018 Asia Cup Qualifier and was the youngest male cricketer to captain a national team in a T20I match when he was just 20 years old.
In this exclusive interview with SPOGO, Virandeep Singh shares his insights about his cricketing journey, being the youngest captain, receiving the Player of the Year thrice in a row, overcoming challenges, childhood cricketing idols and future goals.
Q 1) When did you start playing cricket and how did your journey lead you to become the youngest player to represent Team Malaysia at the age of 15 and 308 days?
I started playing at the age of 5, after watching my brother pick up the sport at school. We were lucky in a way that our school offered cricket at that time. My first coach Mr Munusamy was kind enough to allow me to join the school training sessions even though I was still not schooling. In Malaysia, we start school at the age of 7, so the initial 2 years jump start was great in helping me develop an interest in the game. Soon after, the new school coach Mr Damith suggested to my parents that I join the Royal Selangor Club for more exposure as there was plenty of training and matches being played at the club with the leather ball. Damith also gave me the opportunity to open the batting for the Kuala Lumpur U15 team. That exposure and experience of opening the batting at such a young age helped shape me to grow as a batsman. Moving on, at the age of 13, after a successful interstate tournament, I was selected to represent the Malaysian U16 team for the ACC U16 Elite Cup in 2012. One of the most memorable moments of the tournament was when I scored 54 runs not out and helped the team beat Nepal in the finals, winning our first ever ACC championship. I then went on to make my debut for the Malaysian U19 team the following year. As mentioned, I did become the youngest player to play for the Malaysian senior squad at the age of 15. It was at the ACC T20 Cup held in Dubai. It’s been an amazing journey so far, and I'm loving every moment of it.
Q 2) You were the youngest T20 International captain at 20 years and 190 days. How proud are you of that achievement and tell us about the experience?
Playing for the country at a young age itself is an absolute honor and being appointed captain at a young age is definitely the icing on the cake. I am not one who chases after personal records but being provided with this opportunity meant a lot to me. To be honest with you, I was not aware I had become the youngest T20i captain in the world until I read a tweet by one of the cricket followers a few months after. Well, I would not say that it was completely a new experience for me as I had captained the Malaysian U16 and U19 teams prior to that. Being a part of the circle from a young age also helped as we had a strong bond, the passion to win and most importantly mutual respect amongst all the players. I must especially mention Ahmad Faiz who was more than willing to guide me whenever I approached him for assistance and guidance. It is a special feeling to have a unique world record to my name now running for the 3rd year, but there are bigger goals that I'm looking at.
Q 3) You were awarded Player of the Year by the Malaysian Cricket Association for three years in a row. How did you maintain your consistency and performances that has led to this impressive achievement.
Cricket has always been my passion. I love the game so much and am willing to do anything to strive to be the best. I remember watching my seniors play and thinking to myself , ‘I want to be as good as them’ and I guess that hunger to achieve or to be the best grew from there. I detested losing or coming off second best. Maintaining consistency I believe is all about hard work. Whatever I've achieved till date in my short playing career has come from hard work, and I'm extremely proud of that. There are no shortcuts to success. You want to achieve something, you have to put your heart and soul into it. As I progressed, I had completely changed my work ethics and discipline. For example, from hitting 100 balls at practice sessions to hitting 300, from batting for 30 mins to batting for 90 mins, from zero gym work, to a proper gym routine. To me, the recognition is the final product, but the excitement is in the process. That satisfaction you get after completing a challenging training routine and the feeling that you were pulled out of your comfort zone is something I crave for. Throughout, many coaches have assisted and guided me in different phases of my career and I'm grateful to each and everyone of them. I believe we crossed paths for a reason. My state coach was Neville Liyanage who used to bowl quick with his full run up on artificial pitches. It was scary but the challenge made me mentally stronger. Thushara Kodikara who until today pushes me to be more disciplined on and off the field. Sampath Perera who brought the best out of me in different ways. Bilal Asad, my mentor, who guided me through my transition from junior to senior cricket. It’s been a collective effort.
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Q 4) What are some of the challenges that you have faced in your journey as a cricketer? How did you overcome them?
Personally, apart from trying to balance studies and playing, I would say there hasn't been any major challenges that I have faced. I feel I've been pretty blessed throughout. I've met the right people who've guided me through the years. However if there’s one challenge that not only me but the whole national team face is to make the sport a popular game in Malaysia. There has been some progress though. We have more schools playing the game, more cricket clubs across the country, MOU’s being signed with universities that provide cricket scholarships, job opportunities for cricketers, etc. Our national team is currently ranked 31 in the world. I strongly believe for things to change and to popularize the game, our national team ranking has to move up. Just look at how the sport has been transformed in countries like Afghanistan, Nepal, Oman, UAE, to name a few. I guess that the challenge would be to assist and guide my team to move up the ranks. I hope, in the years to come, the impression people have of cricket in Malaysia will change and this glorious game will be accorded the same recognition that sports like football and badminton enjoy.
Q 5) Who were some of your childhood cricketing idols and why?
I can’t name one because as a kid I was very indecisive, well actually I still am. It would be Sachin Tendulkar today and Rahul Dravid the next day. I came up with a formula for myself. I now look at players and try to emulate them in different ways. I would watch Virat Kohli, and try to understand how he goes about the run chase, Hardik Pandya for his aggressive batting and swag, Tim David for his power hitting, Ravindra Jadeja for his accurate left arm spin, ABD for his 360 shots. I try to watch and learn as much as I can from every player who does well. I actually did have local heroes growing up as well. Watching the fiery pace of Suresh Navaratnam, batting skills of Suhan Alagaratnam, patience of Ahmad Faiz, explosive batting of Anwar Arudin and many more.
Q 6) What are your future goals and ambitions? How do you plan to achieve them?
As mentioned above, I would like to perform and contribute to the national team's success. Moving up the ranks, preferably top 20 would be a dream come true. We have to play a lot of competitive matches against top nations in order to grow and build our confidence. Personally I endeavor to play in more franchise leagues that are gaining popularity around the world.
