CHENNAI: Days after he scored a historic ton for Canada against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup — the first from an associate nation — Yuvraj Samra does not seem to stop. Now, the southpaw is honing his skills under the guidance of Jwala Singh, who knows a thing or two about grooming left-handed batters. Singh is known for being the key person behind India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal's rise.
Singh's assessement of his Canadian ward, is more on how he adapted to conditions in Mumbai, considering his exposure to turf wickets in Canada. There, due to harsh weather conditions, natural pitches are virtually non-existent. "I took him to the Air India ground, and he adjusted with those wickets. I took him to my Thane center, he adjusted to those wickets, and on Tuesday we played in Oval Maidan, Wednesday we are playing in BKC grounds. That shows that he's mentally good, and he knows how to adjust and how to implement and deliver. I think that's the point he has. There are so many people, they always have skills. But very few people can perform on the occasions, and he's one of them," Singh said in a virtual interaction on Tuesday.
Only 19, Samra became the youngest to score a ton at the T20 World Cup. It was in the manner in which he dealt with world beaters in Kiwi bowlers Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham and Matt Henry that captured the imagination of the crowd at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Canada, however, went on lose the match by eight wickets on February 17.
Training under Singh, one can expect Samra to become a dynamic player, and possibly knock the doors of franchise cricket soon. The coach was impressed by Samra's hunger. "His last World Cup game was on 19 and the next day he was in Mumbai. If somebody else would have been there to go on for some break, some holidays, but he's here, he's hungry for more, and he's willing to play on every surface.
If you say the special part, I think he has a very long hitting ability, which I have seen with very, very rare cricketers," said the coach.
Clarity his biggest quality
Samra's approach to batting is what impressed the coach the most.
"I have coached many kids and coached Yashasvi also, (but) when he went to the IPL in 2020 in Dubai, he was not that good. He was not even clearing the ropes. It took two years for him to understand how to hit world-class bowlers. But Samra, at the age of 19, coming from a nation which has no proper backing or coach — compared with Indian kids, they go to NCA, they get trained with big coaches, they play all over they year, and they play lot of domestic cricket, is a very rare talent. I hope he keeps working hard and makes his name on the globe," the coach added.
'So many talent in Canada but hard to make living'
Samra believed that his ton could be a life-changing one. In the post-match press conference, the teenager felt that this could help him bring attention to more opportunities. "To make a living out of this sport especially being from Canada is really hard for us. Many guys on our teams work two jobs, and they're also playing cricket on the side. We have so much talent, but it's really hard for us to make a living, so I really want to change that. A person from Canada who is young and is making a living out of cricket, and if I can do it, anyone else can do it as well," he said.
