RP Singh chooses professional cricket over commentary

RP Singh’s terrific bowling figures against Delhi in the final of the 2015/16 Vijay Hazare Trophy showed what the bowler is made of and how much cricket he still has in himself. 7-2-23-4 were his bowling figures against Delhi in the final on Monday. This also showed how confident Gujarat’s captain Parthiv Patel was with RP, one of the most experienced bowlers in his side.

RP who has been a commentator for a while now believes that he still has cricket left in himself and he still has his priorities set to be a professional cricketer rather than a commentator.

The 30-year-old bowler hasn’t played for India since India lost to England at Cardiff at 2011. He has changed his home state from UP to Gujarat this season and it was only in the final that he took the pitch and swung beautifully with the new ball as the Delhi boys were trapped by his seaming bowling.

He was asked about his experience as a professional cricketer, he said, "It is extremely good. Cricketers must play as professionals. Your focus is only towards the game. In the last two four-day games, I single-handedly won the matches for the team. It is beneficial playing as a professional, your own game improves too.”

Since he changed his sides from UP to Gujarat, he was asked about how he adjusted in the dressing room and the former Indian seamer said, "I come from UP, there is a cultural difference. In UP, the reason so many medium-pacers come through is that our survival skills are better.

“We come from a system where the population is 22-25 crore and you have to struggle all the way through. If you don't have skills, you can't survive. But perhaps in a state like this (Gujarat) where there are three associations, the competition is not as much as it is in UP.”

RP turned into an analyst-cum-commentator this season, and when asked about this switch, he was completely in favour of still playing professional cricket, if he gets a chance. He said, "I became analyst only because I wasn't playing. If I start playing again, I will give up being an analyst. Being an analyst is not my priority."

This was Gujarat’s first Vijay Hazare Trophy win but RP Singh had enjoyed the pleasure of being the champion of this tournament with his former team UP in 2004-05 season.

He was asked about building championship winning teams, and he commented, “The beauty of a state team is that you build it from scratch, like [Mohammad] Kaif did for us in UP. Parthiv Patel has built this team along similar lines. He has been captain for 10 years, he has picked players, hired professionals so that the team does well. It has taken a fairly long time but picking players is not easy. But he is doing it quite well.”

His match-winning performance against Delhi might have opened gates to many opportunities for the 30-year-old as a professional cricketer, but do you expect a comeback from RP?