The term “gedi” is colloquial Punjabi term for “chakkar” (round/trip). In March earlier this year, when Punjab Kings called up their players to assemble at the Mullanpur Stadium, Anmolpreet Singh decided to drop his younger brother Prabhsimran Singh to the camp. While putting Prabhsimran’s kit in his SUV, he casually said: “Chal main tenu Mullanpur chhad aau (Let me drop you to Mullanpur stadium).” The distance between Patiala and Punjab Cricket Association’s (PCA) new stadium is 80 kms. During that two-hour drive, Anmolpreet gave Prabhsimran a “reality check.”
“I gave him my example. The chances I have wasted and how I have fallen down in the pecking order. I reminded him that he is 24 now, and this will be his make-or-break season,” 27-year-old Anmolpreet told TimesofIndia.com from Patiala.
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Most “gedis” in Punjab are known for peppy numbers blaring through the after-market sound systems but all Prabhsimran heard during that drive to Mullanpur was words of wisdom from his brother.
“I told him to score two hundreds this season, and everything will be taken care of. I specifically told him if he wants to play for India, he must score at least two centuries this season to get noticed,” recalls Anmolpreet.
“The conversation was a bit harsh. I can’t tell you the Punjabi cuss words I used, but it was more along the lines of making the most of the starts. The 20s and 30s will not take him anywhere,” he added.
Cut to present and Prabhsimran has batted with a very mature head and scored back-to-back half-centuries for the first time in his IPL career. After a string of 30s, the belligerent right-hander struggled but then scored one of his finest knocks against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens.
He was 34 off 32 balls at one point but turned his innings around as the next 49 runs came off just 17 balls, and 22 off those came in a single Sunil Narine over. He followed it up with another fine knock at Chepauk against Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday.
“His hitting was never the issue. It was his cameos. He needed to play more balls, and even if he bats slowly initially, he has the ability to triple the scoring rate later. We saw that during the KKR match. He needed to put a prize on his wicket and play long innings,” said Anmolpreet.
While Prabhsimran is yet to hit a century this season, the youngster has scored three fifty-plus totals, and for the first time in six years with the Punjab outfit, he has found consistency. The swashbuckling opener has amassed 346 runs in 10 matches with a strike rate of 165.55.
The Punter effect
During IPL 2020, Sachin Tendulkar had posted a video on X, earlier Twitter, praising Prabhsimran Singh’s batting. “Prabhsimran is one to watch out for. His backlift and bat swing are free-flowing. When the ball hits his bat, the sound it creates is quite amazing,” Tendulkar had posted.
His batting has not only impressed Sachin but also the current Punjab Kings’ head coach Ricky Ponting, who wanted to bring him to the Delhi Capitals as well.
Ponting charted a plan for Prabhsimran where the youngster was specifically told to construct an approach against the bowlers and opt for match simulations in open nets instead of the regular sessions.
“I understood where Ricky was coming from. Earlier, he used to blindly hoick no matter who the bowler was. If you see his innings this season, he has a plan against all the bowlers. He smoked Sunil Narine for 22 runs. Now he knows which bowler to attack. Call it game awareness or maturity. He has improved,” said Anmolpreet.
For the open net sessions, Prabhsimran went to the Cricket Hub academy in Patiala with his elder brother and the duo trained for hours under the watchful eyes of Kamal Sandhu.
“Focus was more on match simulation. He has always been good against the pacers; Ricky’s advice was to improve his batting against spinners,” said Kamal.
“He can tear apart a world-class bowler but, at the same time, can get out to dibbly-dobbly bowlers,” he added.
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The brothers used to practice for three hours in the afternoon. Most days, they used to be accompanied by Sardar Satvinder Singh, father of Anmolpreet and uncle to Prabhsimran.
Satvinder Singh, a former captain of the Indian handball team, has trained two of his sons — Anmolpreet and Tejpreet — and Prabhsimran, son of his younger brother, for the past two decades.
“My father is our coach, and he is still invested in all three of us,” said Anmolpreet.
The elder brother also shares an interesting story of how Prabhsimran approached Ponting before the season and requested to let him don the gloves.
“He loves keeping. Last season, he used to crib a lot as he had to field in the outfield. He is a natural keeper, and he has been doing this consistently this season, and it has enhanced his confidence with the bat,” said Anmolpreet.
After 10 games, Punjab Kings are currently placed second on the points table. They are chasing a playoff spot for the first time in 10 years, and Prabhsimran is chasing the target the brother had set during the “gedi”.
