Indian pacer Chetan Sakariya recently recalled the lessons he learned from English all-rounder Ben Stokes, at Rajasthan Royals, during Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
Chetan Sakariya was amongst the players who impressed everyone in the IPL 2021. His heroics in the tournament even earned him the maiden national call-up for the Sri Lanka series last year.
The left-arm pacer took 14 wickets from as many matches in his debut season in IPL. His heroics in the last season made the Delhi Capitals bid for him in the IPL 2022 auction and acquire him for INR 4.2 crores.
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In an interview with cricket.com, Chetan Sakariya recalled how Ben Stokes came up to him when during the third over of his debut match against Punjab Kings, he conceded extra runs.
Sakariya returned with the figures of 3/31 in that match. He conceded 11 runs in the first two overs. But during his third over he was smashed for runs and even bowled a no-ball.
The pacer revealed that all-rounder cited his own example after he got hit for four sixes by Carlos Braithwaite during T20 World Cup 2016. And told him that he did no crime by bowling a no-ball and added that all deliveries are not meant to be good balls.
“I botched up in my third over in which I bowled both good as well as bad balls, including a no-ball. I overstepped at a time when the game was already slipping away from our hands and we couldn’t afford to leak extra runs.”
“He walked up to me from long-on and told me that I had done no crime by bowling a no-ball and that every bowler oversteps once in a while. He also reminded me of the 20 runs he conceded in the last over of the T20 World Cup final to emphasize that not all deliveries necessarily have to be good ones. That is one conversation I fondly recall," Chetan Sakariya said.
It remains to be seen if Sakariya will immediately fit into Delhi Capitals playing XI or not. The Rishabh Pant-led side will begin their IPL 2022 campaign against Mumbai Indians (MI) on March 27 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
(Cricket.com inputs)
