Raj Bawa was just a normal boy, who did well in school and loved to dance to Bhangra until he turned 13. Dharamsala was hosting a cricket match and DAV Chandigarh’s cricket coach Sukhwinder Singh Bawa opted to take his son to the game.
Raj was not the same after the match and Sukhwinder noticed that Raj’s focus shifted with nimble “footsteps” making way for deft “footwork”. It resulted in the all-rounder producing a matchwinning innings in the final of the U-19 World Cup.
“He started playing cricket when he was 11 or 12 years old before that he wasn’t interested in it. He liked to listen and dance to Punjabi songs on the television,” said his father as per PTI.
“He went on tour with me to Dharamshala and saw a lot of intense matches being played out. After that, he started sitting with me in team meetings and his interest in cricket arose from there. After that, he started playing seriously,” he added.
Raj took 5/31 to destroy England in the final and his dad could not hide his joy.
Sukhwinder was not born when his father Tarlochan Singh Bawa played with the likes of Balbir Singh Senior and Leslie Claudius to win independent India’s maiden Olympic hockey gold in 1948.
BCCI
“He was a topper in his school. Even in class ninth, he came second in school,” Sukhwinder went on to say about Raj.
Sukhwinder then began to go with his father to the Academy where one of the students made a big name in international cricket — Yuvraj Singh.
“My father trained Yuvraj Singh. I used to watch him when I was a kid. I used to imitate Yuvraj Singh while batting. I watched his batting videos. He’s my role model,” said Raj.
“When he was a kid, Raj kept on watching Yuvraj, who could come for his nets at the academy and for kids, the first hero makes a lasting impression,” continued Sukhwinder.
“So, when Raj picked that bat he picked from the left but everything else — bowling, throwing, etc he would do from the right hand.”
ICC
“I tried to correct him but when I would turn around, he again held the bat with a left-handed stance. So, then I let it be,” he recalled.
“He was more inclined towards bowling in the beginning because I also used to be a fast-bowling all-rounder. But I wanted to balance it. So, I stopped his bowling when he started. I focussed more on his batting, prepared him as a proper batter. I wanted him to do well in crunch situations. I didn’t want him to be a bowler who can bat. I wanted him to be like Yuvraj in batting and like Kapil Dev in bowling. I wanted him to be a complete all-rounder, 50-50. For that, it was important to make him bat. When he made Punjab’s U-16 team, I gave him the ball. I had seen him bowl as a child and I was confident that he can bowl better than anybody else,” Sukhwinder said.
“I like both batting and bowling,” Raj continued,
Raj’s journey has only just begun but for the moment, he is on the right track.