Delhi hand in USA’s U-19 Cricket World Cup qualifying success

The USA U-19 team that qualified for the 2024 ICC U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka after winning the Americas Qualifiers tournament in Canada has a Delhi connect. The physiotherapist of the squad is Parmeet Singh, a resident of Tagore Garden in west Delhi, who also served as physio for the Delhi Ranji Trophy team over the last two seasons and has also filled in for the role for the upcoming season.

“It has been great experience helping these young boys win the Qualifiers,” said Parmeet who was with the team, comprising Indian-origin players, throughout the tournament that ended last week.

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Parmeet has had a long stint in Indian domestic cricket. He started his career with the Delhi Ranji team in 2004-05 before moving to Rajasthan from 2005-06 to 2009-10. He was then appointed physio of the Jammu and Kashmir team before landing at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) pace academy in Mohali in 2010-11 and 2011-12. He then got associated with Assam Ranji team in 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 before moving to Chandigarh team in 2019-20 and 2020-21. He returned to Delhi for the last two seasons.

Parmeet took Permanent Residency in Canada over a decade ago and then got Canadian citizenship in 2019. He holds an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card but stays in Tagore Garden even now.

“I have been living in Delhi post-Covid but I visit Canada,” he told Patriot from Canada.

He was associated with the USA senior cricket team before he was called up to help the juniors.

“Things are different here. Unlike in India, we can’t have camps here. Obviously, the cricket board is not as rich as those of the top cricket nations. Besides, the country (USA) is massive in size. There are different time zones. It takes a long time to travel from one place to another. It will be unfeasible to hold camps,” explained Parmeet.

So, he sets up individual plans.

“I have to plan with the players individually. They cannot even come online at the same time due to difference in time zones.”

The passion, however, runs high, he says and parents want their kids to play cricket.

“A lot of parents took break from work and travelled all the way from Canada to watch their kids plays. There are some players of Indian origin in the senior American team who even go to India for practice. Sai Teja, who has graduated to the senior international team and scored a hundred in the last World Cup Qualifier Play-off, comes to Hyderabad for practice,” added Parmeet, who was with the senior team in both, the World Cup Qualifier Play-off in Namibia, and the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which happened this year.

Currently, he is on contract. Being a physio with an Associate cricket nation isn’t generally a full-time job and he tends to them during the off-season in India.