Rajasthan Royals (RR) gave a debut to Chetan Sakariya in their Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) opener against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Monday (April 12) and the youngster took the opportunity with both hands and delivered.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) both have a galaxy of superstars, but it was Sakariya who managed to steal the limelight with his stunning spell of 3/31 at Wankhede Stadium.
The 22-year-old was among the stand-out performers during the IPL 2021 clash between RR and PBKS that was won by Punjab by 4 runs on Monday in Mumbai. He also took a stunning catch in the game.
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After the IPL 14 contest, Sakariya revealed that he was inspired by Pakistan speedster Junaid Khan’s bowling spell in Chennai during Pakistan’s tour of India in 2012 after his Player of the Match show, saying he even tried to copy his bowling style but couldn’t copy his entire action against PBKS.
In an exclusive interview with CricTracker, Sakariya said: “As a kid, you start idolizing anyone who plays well and is famous. In 2010 [2012] when Pakistan came to India, Junaid Khan bowled really well, even though we had players like Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, and MS Dhoni. But Junaid dismissed them all. So I became his fan and tried to copy his run-up.”
The left-arm pacer has a similar jump in his run-up as Junaid who took 4/43 in Chennai, was the joint highest wicket-taker with 8 scalps along with Saeed Ajmal in Pakistan’s ODI series win in India in 2012.
He signed off by saying, “If you noticed, he used to take a small jump before approaching the crease. I wanted to bowl just like him, but couldn’t copy his entire action. In the attempt to copy his action, my own action got formed. However, I did copy the jump!”
