Young all-rounder Raj Bawa was bought for Rs. 2 crore by Punjab Kings for IPL 2022 season.
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Young all-rounder Raj Bawa who was bought for Rs. 2 crore by Punjab Kings in the IPL mega auction will be a player to watch out for in the upcoming season. He was a part of India’s U-19 World Cup triumph and picked up a five-wicket haul in the final apart from scoring 35 runs. However, his batting prowess, came to the fore when he notched up an unbeaten knock of 162 runs off 108 balls against Uganda to help the Boys-in-Blue seal the match and qualify for the quarter-finals.
His special knock, consisting 14 boundaries and eight sixes, etched his name in history books as it was the highest individual score by an Indian batter at the U-19 World Cup. He surpassed the previous record set by Shikhar Dhawan (155) against Scotland at the 2004 edition of the junior marquee event in Dhaka.
And would be expected to perform in similar fashion for the Mohali-franchise in his maiden IPL season. However, rolling back in time, Bawa recalled how he notched up a 28-ball century in a University cricket match after failing to get going in the first-two matches.
“The first two games I was out cheaply, collectively I’d scored around 30 runs so I was thinking I’m definitely not going to be a contender now for the man of the tournament,” Raj Bawa recalled in an interview to Punjab Kings.
The third match was against the host team Manav Rachna, the chief rivals of his own school Amity University. “After two bad games, I was nervous I’d have another low score, but the very first ball against Manav Rachna I flicked it over the infield for a six and then it was raining sixes the whole game for me.”
I opened the batting in that game and I scored a century off just 28 balls, and by the time I got out in the 12th over, I had amassed around 140 runs in 40 deliveries, setting up a comfortable win for my team against one of the strongest competitors Manav Rachna,” explains Raj Bawa.
“After that century, I managed to find my form as I scored two fifties in the next two matches, and I clinched that man of the series accolade,” recalls the youngster.
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However, what is more special about the teenager, is that sport runs in his veins. His grandfather Tarlochan Bawa, was a member of the Indian Hockey team, that won the gold medal at 1948 Olympic Games in the United Kingdom.
“Right from the time I began learning how to walk, there was always a cricket centric environment around me. I used to accompany my dad when he used to go to the academy or to the matches, and that’s how my interest in cricket naturally evolved,” Bawa said.
