Surjit Singh Randhawa was born in Batala, Gurdaspur, Punjab and studied at Guru Nanak School, Batala and Lyallpur Khalsa College.
He played for Guru Nanak Dev University; Combined Universities; Indian Airlines and Punjab Police.
Surjit made his international debut in August 1973 and played in the second Hockey World Cup in Amsterdam in 1973 where he was the top scorer in the tournament.
He was selected for the World Hockey XI following the World Cup.
He represented India in the 1974 Asian Games in Teheran and was selected for the Asian X1.
Surjit was a member of the Indian team that won the Hockey World Cup in Kuala Lumpur in 1975.
India won the title for the first and only time with Surjit scoring one of the goals in the 2 - 1 win over Pakistan in the final.
The Asian Games in Bangkok in 1978 was the next big event and the following year he captained India in the Champions Trophy where he was the top scorer.
Surjit, who was then the captain of Punjab Police and Punjab State teams, was selected to Captain the Indian team at the 5th Hockey World Cup held at Bombay in 1982.
He captained the Indian team at the 1982 Asia Cup in Karachi.
In 1982, for the second time in his career, he was picked up for the World X1.
His wife Chanchal, a Joint Director with the Punjab Government, was a hockey player of repute, having captained the Punjab team in 1973.
She represented the country in the first Women's World Cup at Cannes in 1974, played in Test matches against Japan and Uganda and was awarded the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award.
Son Sarbrinder has taken to tennis, having played in various ITF Tournaments.
Daughter Inderpreet is also involved with tennis besides studying for medicine.
A hockey stadium in Jalandhar (Surjit Hockey Stadium) is named after him. A hockey academy, run by the Punjab Government, is named after him.
His native village has too been named as Surjit Singh Wala.
Surjit was posthumously awarded the Indian National Award ‘Arjuna Puraskar' in 1998.
He died in a road accident near Kartarpur in Jalandhar district on 6 January 1984 aged 32.