Sidak Singh is the new kid on the block for Mumbai cricket; trying to be an artful dodger bowling left-arm spin. He is 16 years and would probably become the second youngest after Sachin Tendulkar to play for the senior team. Five years ago he sent down a few deliveries to Sanjay Bangar (India’s assistant coach now) during the inter-railway tournament at Banaras and very soon he was in Mumbai’s Rizvi Springfield School and looking to enhance his skills, and get more opportunities.
On Monday the Mumbai selectors sidelined the trio of left-hand spinners — Vishal Dabholkar, Iqbal Abdullah and Harmeet Singh and chose the teenaged left-arm spinner for the West Zone Twenty20 tournament. “I am utmost impressed. We were looking for someone like him to take Mumbai cricket forward. We played him in two trial matches to pick the Mumbai team. I asked the captain of the team to bowl him in the power play overs and I think he fulfilled what we were looking for. He’s accurate, a brilliant fielder and has the cricketing IQ,’’ said MCA selector Milind Rege.
Two years ago there were suspect action issues with him, but in the last two years the junior college commerce student has played BCCI’s age group tournaments without the slightest doubt raised by the umpires. “He played the last three league matches of this year’s Cooch Behar under-19, three knock-out matches, took 29 wickets and Mumbai won the title. He also picked up 10 wickets in four West Zone under-19 limited over matches. He has been with us for five years after recommended by Salim Shaikh of the Railways,” said Raju Pathak, who looks after Sidak’s cricket in the city.
Former chairman of the BCCI junior national selection committee, MCA selector and at present a managing committee member, MCA, Abey Kuruvilla, though is not thrilled about Sidak’s selection. “A talent has been found and ideally he should be given opportunities in four-day cricket. You don’t want him to bowl flat in a Twenty20 match, sacrificing flight. He can play Twenty20 any time, but only after playing two years of first-class cricket. He did not play for any team in the D.Y.Patil Twenty20- tournament,” said Kuruvilla.
