IPL 7: Young Punjab bowler Sandeep Sharma is on cloud nine
Sandeep credits his success to his teammate Virender Sehwag
Dubai: On cloud nine after his success against top batsmen such as Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, Kings XI Punjab young medium pacer Sandeep Sharma has credited Virender Sehwag for helping him become a better cricketer and described him as a “gem of a person”.
“Viru pa is an amazing person! In the nets, we inform the batsman of our hypothetical field and bowl to them. Sometimes, when I don’t bowl to my field or do something wrong and Viru pa happens to see it, he stops his own batting and comes to talk to me. He tells me exactly where I went wrong and goes out of his way to help me become a better cricketer,” Sandeep said.
“He is really a gem of a person. I am so lucky to be playing in Kings XI Punjab this year with Viru pa in my team. He has been my favourite batsman since I was a kid and now I get to play alongside him and learn from him,” he added.
On Lakshmipathy Balaji’s inputs to him, Sandeep said, “Bala paaji has been really helpful when it comes to preparing me for situations where I might get hit for runs and will have to maintain my cool. This is his seventh season in IPL and he has faced a lot of difficult situations while bowling. Talking to him about it will keep me better mentally and physically equipped to face such situations when they arrive.”
Sandeep said it was Kohli and South Africa’s AB de Villiers who were the most difficult batsmen in the RCB rank to bowl at.
“Virat with the new ball and de Villiers with the old (are the two more difficult to bowl to). Virat has a very good technique to play the new ball and batting one-down for India, he has the experience of handling some of the best new-ball bowlers in the world,” he said.
“De Villiers, on the other hand, is a master at plundering runs in the death overs with the old ball. He is very unpredictable and you can never tell where he is going to hit you next,” added Sandeep.