Ramandeep Singh is making his debut for India against South Africa |Courtesy-BCCI
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Ramandeep Singh is making his debut for India against South Africa
- Ramandeep Singh is a power-hitter with the bat
- Ramandeep can bowl at a high pace
After playing the same playing XI for two matches, India finally decided to use their bench strength in the third T20I against South Africa and gave a debut to Ramandeep Singh at the Supersport Park in Centurion on Wednesday (November 13).
Minutes before the toss, Hardik Pandya handed his debut cap to Ramandeep. The 27-year-old has become the 118th player to play T20I cricket for India. The all-rounder is also the 8th player to make his debut for the national team in the shortest format of the game in 2024.
Who Is Ramandeep Singh?
A late bloomer is the truest sense, Ramandeep emerged on the scene in 2017 when he made his T20 debut for Punjab. He had to wait till 2019 to make his List A debut while his maiden first-class appearence came in 2020. The power-hitter with the ability to bowl at a high pace came into the limelight at the 2022 IPL mega auction when Mumbai Indians (MI) purchased him for Rs. 20 Lakhs.
Ramandeep played five matches for MI in the 2022 campaign under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy and impressed with the ball by taking six wickets. He got only two innings to bat and made 45 runs.
However, he did not play a single game in the 2023 season and was released by the five-time champions ahead of the 2024 auction, where Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) purchased him for Rs. 20 Lakhs.
Ramandeep was an unsung hero in KKR’s IPL 2024 title win with 125 runs in 14 matches at an extraordinary strike-rate of 201.61.
The Kolkata-based franchise recognised his importance to the title-win and retained him for Rs. 4 crore (uncapped player) ahead of the 2025 mega auction. Ramandeep is one of six players retained by the defending champions alongside Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, and Harshit Rana.
Ramandeep was part of the India-A team in the 2024 Emerging Asia Cup last month. He made 94 runs in three innings at a strike-rate of 191.83. He also bowled four overs in the tournament and took three wickets.
Overall, Ramandeep has played 57 T20s in his career and made 544 runs at a strike-rate of 170 and taken 16 wickets.
Alongside his impactful batting and bowling, Ramandeep is one of the best fielders in world cricket and has taken some mind-blowing catches in recent months.
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