Young India pacer Chetan Sakariya made his international debut against Sri Lanka following an impressive performance for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. The left-arm fast bowler played one ODI and two T20Is on the tour.
The youngster talked about his experience playing under coach Rahul Dravid. The former Indian captain was the head coach for the Sri Lanka tour as Ravi Shastri was with the Indian team that is touring England.
Sakariya said that Dravid handed over each player ‘chart papers’, detailing their strong points and improvements required.
"Rahul sir hands out a chart paper which has all the details about a player's game; what are their strong points, where they can improve. He gave one to me as well and asked me to focus on those parts. He believes that every player has their own strengths, and likewise my bowling style is entirely different to all the other players," Chetan Sakariya said in an exclusive interview with India TV.
When asked if Dravid made any comments on his bowling, he said: "He noted during a practice session that the ball leaves from my hand with slow pace, but it skids rapidly off the surface which makes it difficult for the batsmen sometimes," he added.
The 23-year old also revealed that Dravid personally told him that he would make his international debut in the third ODI.
"Rahul sir indicated a day before the game that I could make my debut. After the end of the second ODI, Rahul sir came to me while we were practicing and told me to be ready. I had an idea then that I may get a chance and I prepared myself accordingly," said Sakariya.
"Finally, when we reached the ground for the final ODI, I found out that I would be playing. Rahul sir personally told me,” he added.
The pacer admitted that he was nervous before his debut and said that Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped him calm down with a pep-talk.
"It was relatively easy when I debuted in the IPL. It was normal after 1-2 deliveries there. But I was very nervous before my India debut. It felt like my body froze. Before the match, I was doing my practice and Bhuvi bhai (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) noticed that I was nervous because I couldn't even run the way I normally do during practice sessions.
He even came to me and asked, "Are you feeling nervous?" I replied, "Bhaiya, I can't even feel my body!" But then he gave me a pep-talk. He told me that everyone feels the same, you only need to focus on your own performance. We have already won the series, don't worry about the result,” Sakariya recalled.
He further revealed that he learnt a lot of things from practicing with Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
"Bhuvi bhaiya is very specific about his bowling action. He is very wary of the number of steps he takes in his stride. He told me to feel my action. 'Only when you feel your action, you will be able to bowl accurately,' he says," Sakariya noted about Bhuvneshwar.
Sakariya said that he talked about the knuckle ball from the senior pacer.
"His style is a little different. He holds the ball in normal seam position but hides it behind his fingers at the time of loading. It is quite difficult, I tried to do it but soon realised that it would take me a lot of patience and time to do it successfully. But I'll continue to work on it,” he said.
Sakariya picked up 2/34 on his ODI debut and 1/34 on his T20I debut. He will next be seen in action in the UAE leg of IPL 2021, starting September 19.
