Ireland cricketer Simi Singh honing his leg-spin skills to get into the Test side

India-born Ireland cricketer Simi Singh is working hard on his leg spin to earn a berth in the Irish Test side. The middle-order batsman is now practising with local cricketers in Mohali these days to hone his bowling skills and increase his utility to become a choice for his country in the longer format.

Originally called Simranjit Singh, Simi has played 10 ODIs and eight T20Is for Ireland since making an international debut in 2017 and has 274 runs on the international stage with one fifty so far. He also has nine and eight wickets in the two formats, respectively, with the best bowling figures of 3 for 15 and 3 for 23.

When Simi went to his coach and sought a leg-spinner’s role

“Before the recent limited-overs series against the Afghans, our coach, Graham Ford, was looking for a wrist spinner to take on Rashid Khan. I went up to coach and said ‘Let me try because I used to bowl leg spin during my junior cricket days’. I bowled decently at the practice session and impressed Ford,” Simi was quoted as saying by Times of India.

“I used to bowl good leg breaks during junior cricket days in Punjab,” added the 31-year-old cricketer who featured in the Ireland side that took on India in a two-game T20I series at home in July. Though Ireland lost both games and Simi himself not being able to produce anything special, he believed the experience of playing sides like India gave them valuable lessons.

Simi was pleasantly surprised when he saw Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar walking up to him during the series and praise him for “doing good” for Ireland. Bhuvneshwar also told him that he follows his cricket regularly and the latter confessed that it took some time for him to cope with the statement.

Simi Singh is now waiting for a call in the Ireland Test side. Ireland made their Test debut a few months ago against Pakistan and played decently to lose by five wickets. They are set to play in a Test series against Afghanistan in India in March.

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