US cricket’s Jasdeep Singh: From dropping out of school due to recession to working as a construction labour to dismissing Babar Azam in T20 World Cup

At 16, he dropped out of the school as his father Paramjit Singh lost his job during the recession circa 2007. Jasdeep started to work as a labourer, like his father would also do, at construction sites; it was during a lunch break that his life would begin to turn around. He stumbled on the news that USA had qualified for the 2010 U-19 world cup in New Zealand, and he began to wonder how to get himself aboard the cricket caravan.

“Sitting here in Antigua, looking back, the one word that comes to mind is hustle. How I started playing cricket in New Jersey and now I am representing the USA, the country of my birth and now I will be playing in a Super 8 match against South Africa in a Cricket World Cup. It does feel like a dream,” Jasdeep tells The Indian Express.

The hustle involved working as an automobile mechanic for six years. “Until US cricket began paying me for cricket. It was hard to hang on to jobs, because every time you are travelling to play cricket, you will have to leave the job and look for something new when you return. I have done so many jobs. I have worked in a gas station, delivered pizzas, this and that. It was always hustle. I was ready to do anything as long as I could continue my cricket.”

That dream that started during a lunch break as a labourer had magnificently almost materialised when he found himself on the verge of making his debut for the US in 2017. He had reached Sri Lanka for a first-class season when the next morning landed with a tragic news: his father had died.

India’s Mohammed Siraj, right, throws the ball towards the stumps to run-out United States’ Jasdeep Singh, left, during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup cricket match between United States and India at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in Westbury, New York, Wednesday, June 12, 2024. (AP/PTI)

“It was devastating. That was the time I thought okay this is it. I was chasing my dream because my father wanted me to do it. He was my backbone. One glance at my mom and my sisters, I thought boss I can’t be so selfish. I have to be the provider in the house. My dad had started a trucking business, it had just begun to do well and I was like fine I will take over it. I had no clue about it but I was mentally prepared that cricket was not for me. But my family, my mother, my sisters, my girlfriend (now wife), they stepped up and said ‘No, you can’t leave it here after all this grind. We will hustle and struggle with you and in two years time we will be fine’.”

A couple of months later, he suffered a debilitating knee injury, tore his ACL, and even as he contemplated quitting again, people stood up. “Then it was Pubudu Dassanayake, who is currently the coach of the Canada cricket team. He was on calls with me every day during that period, insisting that I keep chasing my dream.”

The dream had begun as a kid in India when at age of three, his father sent him back to his village Pandore in Punjab’s Jalandhar district. “My father wanted us to be around the family, and learn the culture and tradition. Being in India, the first thing I was introduced to was cricket.” That flourished on his return to the US, a few years later.

Somehow, he held himself together to make it to the current T20 world cup and unsurprisingly was met with more adverse comments. “They would say, ‘oh USA couldn’t qualify but are playing a world cup just because they are the hosts. That sort of triggered the boys as we wanted to prove everyone wrong.” Along with Monank Patel, Jaspdeep travelled to train in Anand, Gujarat, playing a few games in Baroda.

It was the two series against Canada and Bangladesh that really kicked up the confidence levels in the team before the world cup. “The series against Canada and Bangladesh helped us settle as a team and gel as a unit.”

Unlike the cricketing world, Jasdeep doesn’t see the result against Pakistan as an upset. “Before the World Cup, Pakistan had lost a series against a weaker New Zealand side, they lost to Ireland, and they were low on confidence. We were watching all their games, sort of analysing all the players. That’s how we came up with the plan of what we are going to do. There was no pressure, we knew that if we play to our potential we have a chance,” he says. “Babar’s wicket was so satisfying”.

Jasdeep says the key behind US cricket’s success in the tournament is their diversity. “All of us are chasing the big American dream. I think people look at it like there might be an issue with 15 guys from different parts of the world playing cricket together. But for me, that’s our strength.” he says.

“Some people listen to Punjabi music, some to Afro beats, Caribbean music and English music. There is a genuine respect towards all the cultures. You will see Caribbean guys grooving on (the Indian rapper) Sidhu Mooswala’s songs. The Punjabi lads do bhangra on Caribbean music. The current squad is the true reflection of what the US as a country is,” he says. Time will tell if Jasdeep and friends can extend that American dream and go deep into the Super 8’s.