Former India opener Virender Sehwag has praised Rajasthan Royals’ young entrant Chetan Sakariya whose bowling was a treat to watch on Sunday night at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai against Punjab Kings in the fourth match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
The 22-year-old seamer was the pick of the Rajasthan Royals’ bowlers who returned with the stunning figures of 3/31 on his debut in the cash-rich T20 league. He opened the bowling for Rajasthan and conceded 10uns. But he bounced back and struck in the third over to clean up the dangerous-looking Mayank Agarwal (12) and then again he returned in the final over of the game which saw the dismissals of KL Rahul (91) and Jhye Richardson (0) as well.
His brilliant performance not only impressed cricket fans but also Virender Sehwag as the batting legend applauded his fearless approach. He even went on to compare his temperament with former Indian bowling greats – left-arm pace bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra as well.
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“I’ve heard his name, even saw him bowl in domestic games but didn’t expect that he would bowl so well. You face different batters in the domestic circuit but in IPL, you come across big and renowned batsmen. We got to see his temperament. He was fearless,” Virender Sehwag told Cricbuzz. “Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra always say that as a bowler, you should never be scared of getting hit for a boundary. Until you won’t get hit, you cannot learn and pick wickets. So, I think, he [Sakariya] exhibited that kind of temperament.”
“He had variations as well. Though there were a few no-balls but overall, he bowled very well. The way he got Mayank Agarwal and surprised Chris Gayle with one of his deliveries, he was completely impressive,” he further added.
However, Rajasthan Royals couldn’t win the thriller as Punjab Kings beat them by 4 runs on Monday. On the back of KL Rahul (91 off 50) and Deepak Hooda (64 off 28) Punjab Kings managed to post 221 runs for six after the allotted 20 overs. In reply, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson nearly took the team to the finish line with a blitzy 119 off 63 balls. However, he failed to do it as he was caught off the final ball of the game off left-arm pacer Arshdeep while trying to hit big and eventually lost.
