New Delhi: Arshdeep Singh loves to jot down his thoughts in his diary and has penned several poems.After he received his first India call-up, the youngster, by his own admission, wrote his finest till date. He explained his cricketing journey:

“Rakh rabb te yakeen naal mehnatan da zor hove. Apne aap nu kra challenge Mukabala na koi hor hove! Hovan saarean toh vakh Jitt hateran de dil lavan, Hon jinnia v aukdan mukaam apne nu mil lavan!

(Have faith in the Almighty, do hard work. Challenge yourself rather than competing with others. Be the best among the best, and conquer the hearts of haters. With dedication and hard work, you will reach the destination, no matter how challenging the circumstances are!).”His father, Darshan Singh Aulakh, takes great pride in his son’s bowling and their roots.“Bowling he has taken from me. But I still am the best bowler in the Aulakh family,” Darshan Singh tells TimesofIndia.com.“But when it comes to his poetry, it comes from our roots. We are from Batala in Gurdaspur, from the place where famous Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi was born,” he says.

“Shiv Kumar Batalvi has written famous Bollywood songs like

“Ki puchh de ho haal fakiraan da

” and “

Ek kudi jihda naam mohabbat gum hai,

” says a proud father.Darshan Singh, a former Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Inspector with 25 years of service behind him, is now all set to book his tickets to the UK.Quiz: Who’s that IPL player?“I don’t know whether he will play or not. I have nothing else to do. I am retired now. I will follow my son and the Indian team wherever they play,” he says.With 99 wickets to his name in 63 T20I matches for India, 26-year-old Arshdeep is India’s leading wicket-taker. Arshdeep had played a huge part in steering India to the title at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and was also named the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year. He had to wait a long time for getting the Test call-up but it wasn’t something which affected him. The ones close to him, however, wanted him to take the next step because they feel he is ready!

“Playing red-ball cricket for the country is the ultimate dream of any cricketer. The same is with Arshdeep,” says Jaswant Rai, his childhood coach.“Wo pak chuka hai (He is ripe now). He should get a chance to play with the red ball. He can bring the balance that India has been looking for so long,” he adds.In his brief career, Arshdeep has seen one too many swings of misfortune. In one of his many vlogs, he was seen hugging Ravi Bishnoi while replying to a fan’s question about who is the terrible fielder in the Indian team. Arshdeep says: “I have apologised to him so many times. What a big scandal it became.”In 2022, the youngster was subjected to trolling after dropping Pakistan’s Asif Ali in a tense chase in the Asia Cup. He faced a barrage of criticism on social media, with an unidentified user even editing the player’s Wikipedia page to add references to “Khalistan.”Rai recollects the incident and says the youngster remained unfazed by the criticism.“His exact words were, ‘I am laughing at all these tweets and messages.’ He is tough. I know that from close quarters,” he says.It has never been easy for Arshdeep. To save costs and to stay fit, he would cycle for practice while hauling a heavy kit bag too. The distance from his house in Kharar to Chandigarh’s Guru Nanak Public School, Sector 36, where he used to train, was 15 kilometers.In Arshdeep’s own words, he knows how to overcome obstacles, and in one of the poems that his father absolutely cherishes, the fast bowler says:

“Koi aakhda ae lucky, koi tukka lgea aakhde ne. Mehnat kr andekhi saare, kismat nu hi puchkarde ne! Changey sameya ch saare maar baazi lende, Tagde ohi jo time maadeya nu picharhde ne. Vadde jigre valea nu thalle rakhna saukha ni, Maade jehreya vaale hi aaukhiyan ch haarde ne!

(For some, I’m lucky; for some, it’s just a fluke. All they ignore is my hard work. All they talk about is fate and destiny. When time is good, anyone can succeed, but character is tested when one overcomes tough times. Courageous individuals will not back down easily. And a character like me won’t lose hope in tough times).”