In 2009 Kuldeep Lal left India and the small village of Kheri, some seven kilometres from Phagwara City and its lovely university to embark on a life changing journey and start a new life in Spain. By 2016 he was cap number 55 for the National cricket team and making his debut in an ICC international tournament in Sweden.
Kuldeep´s Story ….
My name is Kuldeep Lal and I am from India originally. I arrived in Barcelona, Spain in 2009 thinking that my cricket career was over, Imagine my delight when I saw some boys playing the game I love in my new city in the local park. I got chatting to them and was soon playing with them, I did very well so they called me the following week to see if I would play again. I jumped at the chance and that is how it all started here in Spain.
By the following year I was playing cricket with the Catalan Cricket Fedaration and my big breakthrough came when I started playing with the Girona Warriors a few years later. We had a very successful two seasons in which time I caught the eye of the Spanish selectors. Then the best day of my life came when I got the call up for trials with the Spanish National team. I performed well enough to be selected for the 2016 ICC tournament in Sweden and since that time I have been fortunate enough to be a regular in the Spanish National set up.
To date I would say my best performance in the Spanish shirt was the last game of the T20I series against Finland in Helsinki. Together with Ravi Panchal we put together a match winning partnership that give Spain a series win against our gracious Nordic hosts.
I look forward to continuing to give my best for the Spanish shirt and look forward to our next set of matches, whenever and wherever that may be.
KULDEEP LAL – GRACIA CRICKET CLUB.