Playing for Punjab Kings (PBKS), Shashank Singh impressed one and all with his exploits during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season.
His performance in the middle order was so brilliant that PBKS retained him as an uncapped player at the mega auction last November.
With nearly two months remaining for the IPL 2025, Shashank has recalled the valuable advice he received from the legendary MS Dhoni.
Speaking to PTI, Shashank revealed that the former CSK skipper once told him that a player is among the world's best five or ten cricketers if he wins three games out of ten for his team.
“Once, I had a conversation with Mahi Bhai (MS Dhoni) about this finisher’s thing. So he told me that if you’re winning three games for your team out of 10, you are in the world’s five or 10 best players," Shashank said.
"That gave me real confidence that it’s important to accept that every match is not possible practically for me to win. So, I just try to collect those good points, which I did. Just try to minus those stupid point or points which were not sensible," he added.
In IPL 2024, Shashank amassed 354 runs at an average of 44.25 and a strike rate of 164.65. Teams are expected to devise well-thought-out plans to combat him in the next season. However, the right-hander is well aware and is adding a few new tricks to his batting arsenal.
"I have been working on a few technical aspects both on the batting and bowling front. I am yet to meet him but I'm in touch with Ricky sir (new head coach Ricky Ponting). On the batting front, I have been working on bettering my pull and hook. I've started reverse sweeping because I feel that sometimes on slow wickets where it's difficult to hit the ball towards long on, long off, towards deep wicket; it's better to just reverse sweep it or sweep it," Shashank stated.
"So the last two camps, I've worked a lot, I've played what maybe 1000 balls, reverse sweeping to spinners. I have played the reverse sweep in the past but I just want to be more confident going into the season," he further remarked.
