Vikramjit Singh - Netherlands - Batsman

Indian-born but Dutch-raised, dashing left-handed opener Vikram Singh is a stand-out talent among the crop of players produced by the Netherlands’ youth system that are raising the bar for the new Oranje. Born just outside Jalandhar in Northern Punjab, at aged just seven Singh followed the path to the Netherlands first laid by his grandfather, who had established a transport company in Amsterdam 25 years earlier. Singh learned much of his cricket at local club VRA, coached by Dutch skipper Peter Borren, who would soon remark of a then 13 year-old Singh that the only thing that could stop the youngster becoming the Netherlands’ lead international run-scorer would be a call-up to play for India. A one-club man ever since, Singh made his senior Topklasse debut a year later and went on to become the youngest captain in VRA’s 135-year history after Borren’s departure in 2023.

By then he was already an established figure at the top of the order for the national team. Debuting at number three in a T20I against Scotland aged just 16, Singh was initially in and out of the side, competing with the established pair of Max O’Dowd and Stephan Myburgh for his preferred place at the top of the order. Myburgh’s retirement from ODIs in 2022 in the midst of the Netherlands’ Super League campaign created space for Singh, still a teenager, to make the second opener’s slot his own. He seized the chance with a confident showing against the West Indies, notching his first ODI fifty in the series in which he averaged 49 at a strike rate close to a run-a-ball. Displaying an assurance against pace and a buccaneering style in the powerplay reminiscent of his predecessor in the role of left-handed opener, Singh cemented his place in the side over the course of the remaining Super League fixtures, before going on to record a maiden ODI century during the Netherlands’ successful World Cup Qualifier, scoring a brisk 110 off 109 against Oman. Though Singh has yet to make the same impact in the shorter format, it is likely that (bar his old mentor’s prediction coming true) Singh will be taking guard at the top of the order in Orange for many years to come.