Lifelong inning

By Hillary Tan and Matthew Chew

TEAM PLAYER: Mr Arjun Mutreja, 25, bowls for his fellow batsman on the national cricket team during a training session. The national team have been playing in Division 3 in the World Cricket League since 2014, their highest position ever. The league comprises of six divisions, with Division 1 hosting the best teams.

On most Saturday mornings, Mr Arjun Mutreja can be found at the field of the Singapore Cricket Association, training with his teammates in the national team.

On Wednesday nights, Mr Arjun steps up as the coach of the NTU cricket team, preparing them for this year’s Singapore University Games (SUniG).

The former student of the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering had been interested in the sport since he was a five-year-old child growing up in Delhi, India, playing cricket on the streets.

But it wasn’t until he entered NTU in 2008 that he started playing competitively.

The 25-year-old also earned his coaching certificates between October 2012 and September 2013 while playing cricket full-time in the domestic league.

BATTING AWAY: Mr Arjun’s turn to take the bat. Even with a full-time job, he manages to join in the national team’s training sessions on Thursday and Saturday evenings, as well as coach the NTU team on Wednesday nights. “If I’m spending so much time on cricket, I want the best shot at succeeding,” said Mr Arjun.

“I’m trying to plan my career around cricket,” said the Singapore Permanent Resident (PR).

It was at a domestic league game as a member of the Ceylon Sports Club’s cricket team that Mr Arjun was noticed by the national team.

He was subsequently drafted into the team just two months before his first international tournament at the World Cricket League in July 2012.

Although he still wasn’t a member of the main team, Mr Arjun did get a chance to play against the U.S. in the second match of that tournament.

They lost, which cost Singapore advancement to a higher division, and barely managed to avoid relegation. Even so, Mr Arjun treasures the memory.

THE DAY OFF: Mr Arjun enjoys a cup of morning coffee with his housemate, Mr Shriram Venkatesan, 27. They have been housemates for two months. Mr Shriram, a graduate of the National University of Singapore School of Medicine, is an avid cricket fan, playing in the domestic Division 1.

“I still remember every minute of that game. It was great to be playing for the country.”

Before he was able to contribute more, however, Mr Arjun’s student visa expired at the end of 2013.

Not only was he unable to participate in a few national tournaments that year, he was also required to leave Singapore.

“That was my toughest year in Singapore,” said Mr Arjun, who spent his time back home in Delhi playing cricket with a local team.

Thankfully, Mr Arjun was able to return to Singapore in March 2014 as a result of the hard work of friends in the Ceylon Sports Club, who were successful in helping him obtain his PR status.

Mr Arjun has since found a job with French MNC Decathlon as an e-commerce warehouse manager while pursuing his dream of having a full-time cricket career.

TOOL OF THE TRADE: The bat that Mr Arjun uses has been with him for two years, but he rarely uses it, as he saves the bat for matches with the national team. He last batted with it in the Asian Cricket Council tournament in January this year.

Earlier this year, NTU hired Mr Arjun to be the coach of its cricket team, giving him more hope for a career in cricket here.

Even with the recent haze affecting local sports, he is optimistic about how the NTU team is progressing.

“We’ve only had one training session cancelled, so we haven’t missed out too much,” he said.

The invaluable experience Mr Arjun gains from coaching the NTU team will bring him much closer to turning his passion into a full-time career, even after his playing days are over.

“Ironic that I came to Singapore to study engineering and ended up playing cricket here,” he said.