New Delhi, Feb 3 (IANS): With IPL 2025 a couple of months away, India pacer Kuldeep Sen said he had this gut feeling of being acquired by his current team Punjab Kings in last year’s mega auction even before it began.
What makes Sen’s reunion with Punjab Kings even more interesting is that back in 2018, he attended his first-ever IPL trial for this team. “I was training in Bangalore and was sitting with my friends. I had this gut feeling, even before the auction started, that I would be acquired by Punjab Kings.
“I told my friends about this as well. I gave my first IPL trial for Punjab Kings only in 2018. So, it was an inside feeling that this year, I would be selected by Punjab. I was excited that I am going to a great team and will have a new experience with the new team,” said Kuldeep in a franchise statement on Monday.
At Punjab, to be captained by Shreyas Iyer in IPL 2025, Kuldeep will also be reuniting with his former Rajasthan Royals teammate, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. “I have been with Yuzi bhai for three years. He is a fun and humorous person and makes everybody laugh on the ground and in the hotel. He is a very pure-hearted person. You can talk to him anytime, and you get to learn a lot of things. But whenever one meets him, he will try to irritate you for fun,” he added.
Kuldeep’s lone appearance for India came in the ODI series against Bangladesh in 2022, and he recalled how he got to know of it. “I was in NCA when my call for India came. I didn’t know that I was going to be selected.”
“My friend at Rajasthan Royals called me and told me I was selected. I was sleeping at that time and was unaware of my call-up. I couldn’t sleep the night before my match against Bangladesh was scheduled. I was very excited to play the match. Playing for the country is still the best thing that has happened to me, and I will never forget it.”
He signed off by recalling that during the initial training days, no one in his family except his mother knew he played cricket since his father never liked the sport. “No one in my family knew much about cricket. Since I come from a very middle-class family, they did not know much about playing cricket, where one should train, etc.
“Everybody liked watching cricket, but my father didn’t like it at all. He started watching cricket only after I started playing; otherwise, he wouldn’t be a fan. When I started playing cricket, no one in my family knew about it except my mother.”