Rajasthan Royals’ medium pacer Sandeep Sharma has emphasized the importance of composure and execution when bowling at the death in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season. After recording the best bowling performance of the season with a remarkable 5 for 18 against Mumbai Indians, Sharma shared his insights on the challenges of bowling in the final overs.
“In this year’s IPL, batters are going big, and with the impact player rule, there’s an extra batter, so the games are high-scoring. You have to have a big heart while bowling at the death and try to execute your plans and bowl good balls,” Sharma said after RR’s nine-wicket win over MI.
Sharma, who initially started as a new-ball exponent in the IPL, has been entrusted with the responsibility of bowling the death overs by the Royals in the three games he has played this season. “Even today, you ask me where I feel comfortable, I’ll say it’s with the new ball. With the old ball, you have to adapt and evolve as a bowler,” he said.
Sharma returned to the RR playing XI after recovering from a side strain that kept him out for close to a month. “I was working hard towards my fitness for the last three weeks. I had two practice sessions before the game, my main focus was to execute the variations that I did tonight.”
Against MI, Sharma’s scalps included the dangerous Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, the big-hitting Tim David, Ishan Kishan, and Gerald Coetzee. He took three wickets in the final over, restricting MI to 179 despite a 99-run stand between Varma and Nehal Wadhera.
“If you’re bowling at the death, it can go both ways. Sometimes, you go for runs, and when you’re lucky enough, you end up getting a wicket. When we started, the wicket was low and slow. My plan was to keep bowling those cutters, and it came off nicely tonight,” he said.
Despite the loss to RR, Mumbai Indians remain optimistic about their chances of qualifying for the playoffs. Young batter Nehal Wadhera expressed confidence in the team’s ability to turn things around.
“MI need to win all their games from here, and we need to tighten our socks. We need to raise our game and figure out where we have been going wrong or where we have been going right so that we can rectify our mistakes whenever we return,” Wadhera said after the match.
The 23-year-old, who smashed a splendid 24-ball 49, pointed out that MI are not new to being involved in a mid-table muddle, having risen from the proverbial ashes time and again.
“We have been in such a situation in earlier seasons as well, and we have, you know, upped our game from there and qualified. So, we are optimistic even right now. We will continue the process we are following and win the games for the team. We win as a team, and we lose as a team,” Wadhera added.
