We have heard many stories of players like Siraj, Natarajan who beat all odds to rise up the ranks and finally lived their dream of playing for India in the international stage. But have you ever wondered how many of them actually miss out on this opportunity owing to various reasons like family support, injury and thus can’t pursue their dream of playing cricket. Today in this article we discuss one such story of a boy who dreamt to be a cricketer, but God had different plans for him, Hardy Sandhu.
Hardavinder Singh Sandhu, better known by the stage name of Harrdy Sandhu, is a well known name in the Punjabi Music Industry. You must be wondering, how did this boy who dreamt of playing cricket since the first breath he took, end up in the music industry. Here goes! Few know that Hardy Sandhu started his career as a cricketer. Cricketers like Shikhar Dhawan, Manoj Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara started their cricket career alongside Hardy Sandhu. In an interview, the singer admitted that Shikhar Dhawan was his roommate during his U-19 days. He was a fast bowler who had a dream to represent the Indian national cricket team.
In 2005, he played domestic cricket for Punjab too. He was a potential fast bowler, who if nurtured correctly could have done wonders for the Indian side. But things started going downhill for him since then. In 2006 he suffered a brutal elbow injury on his right arm which was also his bowling arm. He tried several doctors and treatments in India but nothing seemed possible. As a last resort he applied for a student visa and flew to Australia with the thought that if he recovers well he will return to India and restart playing cricket or will settle in Australia itself if not the former.
In Australia he met a lot of renowned physios and therapists but nothing worked for him as the elbow worsened over time. He even drove taxi in Australia to make ends meet and tried everything that would help keep his dream of playing cricket for India alive but alas it just wasn’t meant to happen for him. As a result, he had to quit cricket in 2007, aged 21. Now did Hardy blame his fate and weep over his loss. No! He took the brave way as he accepted his fate and decided to rise and try again.
He shifted his focus from cricket to singing and even took formal vocal training for almost two years. He performed his first song “Tequila Shot” in 2012. Two years down the line he did more two songs and even a film called “Yaaran Da Ketchup”. He quickly climbed the stairs of success in this industry and did three songs in 2017, one of them being with the actress sensation Nora Fatehi. Sandhu’s switch to singing became an instant success. More than two crore people watched ‘Naah’ on Youtube in just 20 days. Sandhu’s other song ‘Backbone’ was also a huge hit and has over 17 crores views on YouTube.
Hardy Sandhu didn’t get to represent Indian team but soon he will be seen in the reel version of team India. He has been roped in to play the role of former Indian pacer Madan Lal in the upcoming Bollywood film ’83’. The film is based on India’s win in 1983 Cricket World Cup where Ranveer Singh is portraying the role of Kapil Dev who led the side to World Cup win. The film will release on 10 April 2020. Hardy’s story is a story of grit, confidence and a never dying spirit which proves the fact “where there is a will, there is a way” in emphatic style.
