As the Royal Challengers Bangalore needed 37 runs of 26 balls to clinch the DLF IPL2 trophy, the Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad) clearly had their backs to the wall. The challenge, stiff as it was, was the moment for a new hero to take centrestage and as the 6’ 3” Mohali lad, Harmeet Singh, marked his run up for the next ball, he knew the stakes were high with South African veteran Mark Boucher “thinking sixes” in his mind.

What followed was a fairy tale: a short-one pitched outside off, Boucher slashed at it and the ball was pouched by Herschelle Gibbs at backward point. “Well done mate!! now we can smell victory,” were the words that Captain Gilchrist had for Harmeet.

He, as much as others, knew that the match had turned on its head and it followed in accordance with the decline of the Royal Challengers and the crowning of the new champions. “This is like a dream for me,” said an exuberant Harmeet while speaking to the The Indian Express from Johannesburg.

“First playing in the IPL, then sharing the same dugout with the greats like Gilchrist, Gibbs and Andrew Symonds and finally getting the crucial wickets of Rahul Dravid and Boucher— it was like scripting a dream. The pat from Gilly (Adam Gilchrist) and meant the world to me,” added Harmeet.

Harmeet was also the lucky mascot for the Deccan chargers as statistics highlight that his team won every match that featured him in the playing eleven.

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