Chandigarh Born Param Uppal To Play For Australia in the Under-19 World Cup

Days after when Jason Sangha of Indian origin was selected to lead the Australian under-19 team in the next year’s World Cup in New Zealand another Indian origin player Param Uppal was selected in the Australian under-19 World Cup squad. Param was one of the three captains to lead the under -19 side against Sri Lanka in Hobart where he scored 210 runs in the three matches which also included a century.

Param who was born in Chandigarh, migrated to Australia in 2003 when his father Devinder Singh Uppal decided to settle Down Under. However, his uncle Bhupinder Singh Uppal and his family who lives in sector 125 in Mohali is overjoyed with the news of his nephew playing for the Australian side in the next year’s World Cup.

Bhupinder who has a business of water treatment in Mohali said, “Param was born at Sector 32 GMCH, Chandigarh, and our father Harbhajan Singh, who retired as warrant officer from the Indian Air Force, always wanted all the children to pursue sports along with studies. I and my brother Devinder also played hockey for our school Kendriya Vidyalaya-47 and Devinder played cricket for Panjab University, too, before shifting to Australia. Param’s inclusion in the U-19 Australian cricket team for the World Cup is the biggest news for us and we are eager to see him play. We surely plan to watch him play in New Zealand and will be cheering for him.”

Param who lives in the Glenwood suburbs of Sydney has been scoring big runs in the domestic circuit of late. His father was a lawyer in the Punjab and Haryana High Court before he decided to shift to Australia and now works in the railways transport department in Sydney. His mother Jaspreet teaches at Muirfield High School.

His aunt and wife of Bhupinder, Satinder who is a teacher at Vivek High School in Mohali said that Param’s selection had brought joy to the entire family including his cousins, 16-year-old Karan and 14-year old Jashan. She said,

“Param last came to India in 2011 and since then, he has been busy attending various camps and team practice. He has not seen a cricket match here yet. But we will surely make him watch an international match next time he comes. We went to the Golden Temple in Amritsar when he came last time and he is also fond of Indian food. He likes paneer and chicken dishes and I am sure he will ask us to make that for him after the World Cup.”

His cousin Jashan also said:

“Param has been so busy in the last six months that we have not talked over phone. He attended a training camp in Brisbane earlier and we followed his performance in the U-19 championships on internet. He keeps sending us pictures of him training with Steve Smith, who is my favourite cricketer, too.”