new delhi raj angad bawa was just another happygolucky kid who effortlessly got good grades in school and loved to groove to the beats of bhangra till he was 13 years oldwith the hillstation of dharamsala hosting an international cricket match back in the day dav chandigarhs cricket coach sukhwinder singh bawa decided to take his teenager son to watch the gamesomething changed in little raj and as a father for sukhwinder it didnt go unnoticed that sons focus shifted with nimble footsteps making way for deft footwork and the result was an allrounder performance at the global stage albeit at the junior levelhe started playing cricket when he was 11 or 12 years old before that he wasnt interested in it he liked to listen and dance to punjabi songs on the television father sukhwinder recollected as if it was just yesterdayhe went on tour with me to dharamshala and saw a lot of intense matches being played out after that he started sitting with me in team meetings and his interest in cricket arose from there after that he started playing seriously sense of satisfaction was palpable in sukhwinders voice as he spoke to pti from his chandigarh residence where a posse of reporters and camerapersons had already planted themselvesphoto credit iccthe son was ripping the heart out of young lions toporder and the father was enjoying all the attention coming his waythose five wickets that raj got in the final wasnt his alone but also belonged to sukhwinder who was living his dream through his sonsukhwinder wasnt even born when his father tarlochan singh bawa had played alongside balbir singh senior leslie claudius and keshav dutts to win independent indias maiden olympic hockey gold in london during the 1948 gamessport ran in the family but the coach in sukhwinder was elated when raj decided to give cricket more precedence over familyhe was a topper in his school even in class ninth he came second in school sukhwinder added when asked if raj was inclined towards studiesand then he started accompanying his father to the academy where he had helped in honing skills of hundreds of players but one went on to become an illustrious name in international cricket yuvraj singhas a child raj would see his favourite yuvi paaji train day in and day out with his father and soon watching turned to imitation as raj had a new role modelmy father trained yuvraj singh i used to watch him when i was a kid i used to imitate yuvraj singh while batting i watched his batting videos hes my role model raj who wears the number 12 jersey the same as yuvraj saidsuch was yuvrajs influence on the child raj that a natural righthander couldnt imagine not batting lefthanded just because his hero was a southpawwhen he was a kid raj kept on watching yuvraj who could come for his nets at the academy and for kids the first hero makes a lasting impression the