“Isn’t he the most amazing bowler!” Preity Zinta beamed, complimenting Sandeep Sharma, who had set the tone for the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore with a first spell of 3-0-7-1. The pacer, who has been a key figure in Kings XI Punjab’s pace attack, once again helped restrict the opposition to 148 for four despite an AB de Villiers blitzkrieg.
While Glenn Maxwell changed bowlers at one end, he kept Sandeep Sharma on at the other end and reaped the rewards. The swing bowler tied the batsmen down – bowling 14 dot balls in his first spell of three overs - and accounted for the wicket of Vishnu Vinod. In the first match against Rising Pune Supergiant too he had bowled a tight spell upfront that had helped in building up the pressure on the opponents. “It always feels good if you have contributed to the team’s victory. I am feeling good about having done that,” the pacer told iplt20.com after the match.
Speaking about his first spell against RCB, Sandeep, who has mastered the art of bowling in the powerplay overs, said, “I am backing my strength which is to swing the ball. I have discussed and worked with Virender Sehwag regarding field placements. He has helped me and talked to me about what the placements should be with the new ball, since only two fielders are allowed outside the circle and how to use them effectively. I am doing that, and so far it has been working well.”
While talking about his plans for the likes of Shane Watson and de Villiers, Sandeep said, “I had spoken about my plans in the team meeting as well as with Viru paaji. The thing is most batsmen struggle against swing; so he told me to back my strength which is swinging the ball.”
“I was to bowl my heart out and not think about getting hit. Also, I was told never to think about losing my place in the side or being asked to sit out (if I went for runs). Viru paaji backs (his players) a lot,” he added.
While Sandeep had dried up the flow of runs from one end, Axar Patel had set the ball rolling by claiming Shane Watson in the first over of the day. Explaining the decision to open with the spinner, the pacer said, “We had our plans. Watson doesn’t play too well against left-arm spinners; so Maxwell thought that we could give the first over to Axar and it was good that he got us the wicket.”
KXIP had gone into the match with a five-pronged pace attack. Elaborating on the composition of the side, Sandeep said, “Today we played with four fast bowlers and one (pace bowling) all-rounder Marcus Stoinis. The pitch was good. More than spinners, the fast bowlers would probably have been more effective. With that in mind probably we played an extra fast bowler.”
While the KXIP attack had kept the RCB line-up on a tight leash, de Villiers went berserk in the death overs as RCB looked to post a respectable total on the board. Sandeep himself was clobbered for 19 runs in the penultimate over of the innings. Speaking about bowling in the death overs where batsmen too look to up the ante, Sandeep said, “I am not too worried about the death overs; even today the way I bowled, I was executing what I was thinking and planning. AB de Villiers is one of the best batsmen in the world and he even hit some of my good balls. It’s okay. I am executing what I am thinking about. On a different day, against a different batsman, things might be different.”
Asked of what, if anything at all, the bowlers can plan for someone like de Villiers, Sandeep said, “We had made our plans for him. But like I said, he is one of the best batsmen in the world. We tried to execute our plans, but he scored against us. He is one of my favourite batsmen, so I am happy for him also.”
With two wins out of two matches, KXIP will be looking to carry the momentum forward, “We are very focussed about winning the tournament and we are doing well and hope to continue this way for the rest of the tournament,” Sandeep concluded.
News Link : Click Here
EmoticonEmoticon