Ramandeep Singh Makes India Debut: Punjab All-rounder Who Wants To Be Like Andre Russell

Ramandeep Singh made his international debut on Wednesday, November 13 in the 3rd T20I between India and South Africa. The pace-bowling all-rounder bats in the lower middle order and his known for his big hits. His fielding also makes for viral social media clips. (3rd T20I Highlights | More Cricket News)

Ramandeep, who replaced pacer Avesh Khan in the India playing XI, became the 118th player to play for the Indian team in T20Is. Recently, the 27-year-old said that he wanted to model himself on the lines of Andre Russell.

Ramandeep, who plays for Punjab in domestic cricket, does bat like Russell. While he was flexing his hitting muscles nicely in the domestics for a few years now, it was really in the IPL 2024 that he stole everyone's attention.

Ramandeep was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders' title-winning run last season. Batting in the lower middle order, the Chandigarh born faced just 62 balls in the season but even that was enough for Ramandeep to show off his skills. He scored 125 runs with a strike rate of over 200 and launched 12 sixes in the limited batting time he got.

Since Ramandeep was already doing the same in the domestic circuit, the IPL 2024 performance was a stamp on his abilities that he could hit international level bowlers as well. His overall T20 strike rate is 170 currently. Recently, in a valiant knock, he scored 64 runs in 34 deliveries against Afghanistan A for India A in the Emerging Teams Asia Cup semifinal.

Alongside his brilliant hitting skills, Ramandeep can also contribute with his slow medium pace.

However, it was not always easy for Ramandeep. He was not a part of India U-19 sides while his cousins Prabhsimran Singh and Anmolpreet Singh were. In fact, even in IPL his cousins made their debut ahead of Ramandeep. Prabhsimran has been playing IPL since 2019 while Anmolpreet got his first IPL gig in 2021. Ramandeep made his IPL debut in 2022 for Mumbai Indians. However, he batted just four times and did not get a chance in the 2023 IPL. Moreover, the all-rounder was realesead ahead of the auction for IPL 2024. He was then snapped up by KKR and the rest is history.

However, he has pipped his cousins in terms of reaching the Indian team. He is also one of the five players retained by the defending IPL champions KKR for IPL 2025.