Balwinder Sandhu

Balwinder Singh Sandhu was a bowler and a pretty useful tail end batsman for the Indian Cricket team in the year 1983-1984. He was known for his medium pace and for moving the ball both ways. Sandhu attained great success in his short spell with the Indian team. When he started off, he began much better with the bat than with the ball scoring a brisk 71 at number 9 with India chasing a formidable Pakistan target. Pakistan had reached their target after Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad had gone about building a world record partnership after Sandhu scalped 2 wickets in successive balls.

In the very next month, he went on to score another half century in the first Test against the West Indies. Though, he was brought to the team as a bowler, his contributions came mostly with the bat. However, in English conditions, he proved to be a menace to batsmen. In this way, he became a key member of the World Cup winning squad of 1983. His most notable moment was when he cleaned bowled Greenidge with a beautiful in-swinger after the batsman had let the ball go. That ball is talked about even today.

After all his exploits before and during the World Cup, it was a little shocking that his career did not prolong itself. He seemed to favour the West Indies though and registered his career best figures of 3 wickets for 87 against the same oppositions at Guyana.

Following his plating career, Sandhu served as the coach of Mumbai and the Punjab. He also worked with the National Cricket Academy. He played club cricket in Kenya in the 1990's and took up a few coaching jobs there as well to stay in touch with the game.