Cricket हेर्न गएका दर्शक लखपति भएर फर्के :: Indian media hail Jatinder's big money catch
India's media is celebrating their "Indian-origin" fourth-generation Te Aroha man who took a $100,000 catch at the cricket yesterday.
Waikato University student Jatinder Singh, 22, took a one-handed catch off a Cory Anderson six, picking up a $100,000 prize from Tui Breweries, at last night's one-day cricket international in Hamilton.
India last night lost their ODI top-nation ranking to Australia after going down for the second time running to New Zealand.
Waikato University student Jatinder Singh, 22, took a one-handed catch off a Cory Anderson six, picking up a $100,000 prize from Tui Breweries, at last night's one-day cricket international in Hamilton.
India last night lost their ODI top-nation ranking to Australia after going down for the second time running to New Zealand.
India is fascinated with Anderson before next month's Indian Premier League Twenty20 auctions.
Today's Indian Express tells of Anderson hitting sixes off Ishant Sharma's bowling and how one "nestled in Jatinder Singh's right hand on the embankment beyond the long-on fence".
The Express said Singh's life changed at that moment.
"To be honest, I got up and didn't think it was going to make it as far as me," he is quoted saying.
"I thought it was going to land short, so then I sort of gave up on it, and then it kept going and next thing I know it was in my right hand.
"Really, it happened so fast. I started jumping up and down; that's not me. Normally I am quite reserved."
He is described as "a fourth-generation Indian whose roots are in Punjab".
His father is a Te Aroha farmer and his mother is from Amritsar, the spiritual home of the Sikhs in India.
Singh told the the Express that he had no idea what he would do with the money.
"Maybe a new car. I am sick of my car," he said.
"Maybe I'll also pay my student loan with that."
He is the second person to win $100,000 after Michael Morton caught a Kieran Powell-hit during the New Zealand-West Indies game, also in Hamilton, on January 8.
The catch has to be one-handed and the catcher has to be wearing an orange Tui T-shirt.
Singh was also at Seddon Park that day.
"I came to the West Indies game. I went to the official merchandise store and they had only one T-shirt left," he said.
"I think I might have pushed someone to grab that last shirt.
"As soon as I got up there in the stands, some guy caught it. I said, 'I can't win today; what we can do is hope'.
"I came again today. Here it is, $100,000."
He said he had wanted to move from where he was sitting, but his friend disagreed.
"He said, 'Nah, we're good here'. Definitely I owe him a beer or two," Singh said.
The Bhopal-based Daily Bhaskar said India's dismal showing did not leave many supporters happy, but "Singh ... laughed all the way to the bank."
The Indian Express said Anderson yesterday gave an "IPL audition as good as any, with Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni standing behind him".
Of his worth, it said: "Million dollars now seems a conservative estimate, and the Super Kings, with only $3.4 million left in their purse and a full squad to build, may not even land him after all."
The Royal Challengers Bangalore, with $5m in their coffers, could be interested in the Kiwi.
"A Chris Cairns in the making," the Express said.
The Hindustan Times was particularly grumpy about the tour and of the Hamilton game and said "the manner of defeat showed how unsteady India are".
Calling the Indians clueless, it said "the match was called off in the final over as rain started again, which would have come as a relief in a strange way for the visitors".
