Suyash Sharma, a rookie spinner for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), impressed Coach Chandrakant Pandit with his “fighting attitude,” saying it was very challenging for opposition batters to select the 19-year-old from Delhi.
Suyash Sharma, a rookie spinner for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), impressed coach Chandrakant Pandit with his “fighting attitude,” saying it was very challenging for opposition batters to select the 19-year-old from Delhi.
Suyash had a significant influence in his debut IPL game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, took the prize wickets of pinch-hitter Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, and tail-ender Karn Sharma as KKR defeated Faf du Plessis’ team by 81 runs at the Eden Gardens on Thursday night.
“We have seen him (Suyash) at trial matches. He is very quick in the air, and it’s very tough to pick him. It’s just the inexperience, but he showed a fighting attitude,”
said Pandit after the match.
The former India cricketers praised the batsmen for having the guts to rally and post a 200-plus total after being down and out at 89/5, with Shardul Thakur hitting a 29-ball 68.
“It’s a good win. The boys have shown the character. Looking at the initial stage, having lost wickets, and coming back to get 200-plus. We just expected the pitch to help the spinners. But you require enough runs. Shardul and Rinku Singh (46 off 33) counter-attacked the opposition,” added Pandit.
KKR captain Nitish Rana said that Suyash had been useful in the strategy to put pressure on the opposing batters in the middle overs.
“Even today, we collapsed (to 5/89), and credit to (Rahmanullah) Gurbaz (57 off 44 balls). It was an unbelievable inning from Shardul Thakur. People will talk about Shardul, but Rinku (Singh) held one end up, as we had planned.
“We had always planned not to give RCB batters pace in the middle overs. Suyash, playing his first match, bowled brilliant balls. Not even we have got to know him so far. He backs himself. It was always our plan to add him if we needed a third spinner. He is unlike any normal person. He is always in a jovial mood,”
added Rana.
‘Player of the Match’ Shardul himself was surprised with the power he packed in his strokes, smashing nine boundaries and three sixes.
“Even I don’t know where it came from. Looking at the scorecard, everyone would have said we were struggling. But your subconscious mind takes over. You also have to have skills to do that at a higher level, but we also work hard in the nets.
“Coaching staff do the throw downs and give us the option of range-hitting. And you know the pitches; they always suit the batsmen, don’t they? This was a perfect day,” he said.
RCB skipper Du Plessis said his side lost the plot after keeping KKR batters under pressure till the 13th over. He also indicated that his batters need to get better against top-notch spinners.
“We had it set up there in the 12th or 13th over… It was probably 20-25 runs too much. Shardul played well. Their leg spinners got on top of us. It was still a good wicket… but the nature of mystery spinners is that they get wickets. They put the squeeze on us.“We were pretty average with the bat. You learn lessons. Two or three days ago, you played brilliant cricket. It got away from us,”
added the South African.