Vikramjit Singh (born 9 January 2003) is a Dutch

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. He has played for the Netherlands national cricket team since 2019 as a left-handed opening batsman.

Personal life

Singh was born on 9 January 2003 in Cheema Khurd,

Punjab, India Punjab (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Himachal ...

to a

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

family. His grandfather Khushi Cheema fled to the Netherlands following the

1984 anti-Sikh riots The 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, also known as the 1984 Sikh Massacre, was a series of organised pogroms against Sikhs in India following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Government estimates project that about 2,800 Sikhs ...

and initially worked as a taxi driver before establishing a transport company in

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 92.353 as of 2022. It is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area. The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the historical villages o ...

. The family moved back and forth between the Netherlands and India over the following decades, before settling permanently in the Netherlands when Singh was seven.

Junior career

Singh was spotted at the age of eleven by Netherlands captain

Peter Borren Peter William Borren (born 21 August 1983) is a former Dutch international cricketer. He was the captain for Netherlands at international level, until he retired in April 2018. Early career He played in the 2002 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, U ...

, who convinced him to play club cricket for VRA Amsterdam. He received private coaching from Borren and

Amit Uniyal Amit Uniyal is an Indian first-class cricketer. An all rounder, he played for Punjab in first-class cricket, and for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. A left-handed all-rounder, Uniyal made his debut in 2001–02 for Punjab. A ...

, attending Uniyal's academy in

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

for several years. He made his debut for "Netherlands A" at the age of 15. Singh represented the

Netherlands national under-19 cricket team The Netherlands Under-19 cricket team represents the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , establish ...

at the 2019 Under-19 World Cup Europe Qualifier. He finished as the second-highest run-scorer at the tournament behind Scotland's Tomas Mackintosh, recording 304 runs from five innings including 133 against France.

Senior career

In September 2019, Singh was named in the Netherlands'

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) squad for the

2019–20 Ireland Tri-Nation Series The 2019–20 Ireland Tri-Nation Series was a cricket tournament that was held in September 2019 in Ireland. It was a tri-nation series that featured Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland, with all the matches played as Twenty20 Internationals ( ...

. He made his T20I debut for the Netherlands, against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, on 19 September 2019. In April 2020, he was one of seventeen Dutch-based cricketers to be named in the team's senior squad. He made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

debut on 11 May 2021, for the Netherlands A team against the Ireland Wolves, during their

tour of Ireland The Tour of Ireland (Irish: Turas na hÉireann, known from 1985 to 1992 as the Nissan Classic) was a bicycle stage race held in August, which ran for 35 editions over a 56-year period. Irish rider Seán Kelly recorded the most wins, four. Th ...

. Later the same month, he was named in the Dutch

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(ODI) squad for their series against Scotland. In February 2022, he was named in the Dutch ODI squad for their series against New Zealand. He made his ODI debut on 29 March 2022, for the Netherlands against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In July 2023, Singh beat his previous ODI personal best of 88 runs by scoring 110 against

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

to help the team win by 74 runs for the

2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier is an upcoming edition of the ICC World Cup Qualifier, Cricket World Cup Qualifier, a cricket tournament, scheduled to take place in June and July 2023 in Zimbabwe. It will serve as part of the 202 ...

Harare, Zimbabwe Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

. Subsequently in the following game, the Netherlands beat

to earn themselves a place in the

2023 Cricket World Cup The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the 13th edition of the Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It is sch ...

References

External links

* 2003 births Living people Dutch cricketers Netherlands One Day International cricketers Netherlands Twenty20 International cricketers People from Jalandhar district Dutch people of Punjabi descent {{Netherlands-cricket-bio-stub