South Africa and Rajasthan Royals (RR) spinner Tabraiz Shamsi heaped praises on Kartik Tyagi for his memorable performance against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their opening game in the second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) in Dubai on Tuesday (September 21).
The young right-arm seamer delivered his best in the tense situation of the game against PBKS in the ongoing IPL 2021 and won many hearts including Shamsi's, who described his RR teammate’s performance as very special and said getting praise from the legend like Dale Steyn is just unbelievable.
Notably, Tyagi stuck to his plan of bowling yorkers and full balls and he successfully defended the four runs in the final over while dismissing Nicholas Pooran and Deepak Hooda to pull off a thrilling two-run win for RR against PBKS in Dubai in their last IPL 2021 game.
As reported by Khaleej Times, Shamsi said: “It's right up there. You are speaking about me, but I saw a tweet from Dale Steyn. And he has been playing for so long, he has been the best at what he does for so many years. And even he was impressed. So, it just tells you the caliber of the finish.”
The spinner added, “What Tyagi did at the end, was something really special. To get praise from a person like Dale Steyn and I am sure, he has seen a lot more than I have, and for him to say something like that, you can imagine. That was unbelievable. And for me, personally as well, you know, I have been part of a few close games, but I don't think I have been part of anything like that.
We were defending eight from the last two overs with them having so many wickets in hand. As much as you back yourself to win a game from any situation, I think even if we were given one percent chance of winning that game, I think we got that.”
The 31-year-old believes that such stunning performances like against PBKS will help Tyagi grow as a cricketer in the future. He further explained, “Look, anybody that can pull that off obviously has to have nerves of steel and just the belief in them. I was just speaking to a couple of guys who said he (Tyagi) basically nails six out of six yorkers. Who in the world can do that, you know? I mean Lasith Malinga is one guy that comes to mind, he has just retired. He is probably your blueprint for yorkers, being one of the best ever in terms of yorkers.”
Shamsi continued, “So, I think what he executed yesterday (Tuesday), I think it was stunning. That's only going to help him grow. We always speak about 'it doesn't really matter what you have done previously, what matters is that the over that you are bowling, or that ball that you have to bowl, and to execute like that, the way he did it, in the last over, it's going to do wonders for his career going forward.
Because now he knows, no matter what situation he is in, he is capable of producing something like that. Cricket has a lot to do with belief in your own abilities. I think that's how you win in pressure situations. Like I said, knowing that he has done something like this before will obviously put him in a very good position if he is in a situation like that moving forward.”
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On RR’s celebrations in the dressing room after the thrilling win over PBKS, Shamsi said: “Obviously, that sort of a game, if we are all honest, nobody would have thought that such a comeback was possible. You know we all watch a lot of cricket, play a lot of cricket, and it was something that you can't really script. You can't predict that. So, of course, everybody was very happy as you can imagine, you know. The celebrations were good.”
He signed off by saying, “But that says a lot about Rajasthan Royals as a team. There is a consistent mood in the camp, whether we win, whether we lose. We just focus on how we go about our things in terms of our preparations. I think that's the most important thing.”
(With IANS Inputs)
