Before being called on to bowl by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper, Pat Cummins, in the knockout game against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Abhishek had delivered only three overs in 14 matches.But he was asked to deliver his full quota of four overs on Friday and spun a web around the RR batsmen, which yielded impressive figures of 2 for 24 and provided able support to fellow left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed (3 for 23).
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As a result, Rajasthan choked under pressure and could only reach 139/7 in their 20 overs while chasing SRH’s 175 for 9, which put SRH into the final against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday.
Interestingly, Abhishek is mentored by flamboyant former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, who excelled in similar skills during his playing days as a middle-order batsman who could hit the ball hard and bowled left-arm spin. In fact, Yuvraj’s all-round skills earned him the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award when India won the ODI World Cup in 2011.
“Whenever I had conversation about bowling with Yuvi paaji, he always said I can be a better bowler than him,” said Abhishek in a video on the IPL website ater SRH’s entry into the final. “That thing I always had in my mind. I think he will be happy as well that I could contribute with bowling.”
Until Qualifier 2, it was Abhishek’s bat making most of the noise, as 470 runs came off the SRH opener’s willow in 14 innings at a strike rate of over 200.00, including the season-highest 41 sixes. The opener could add only 12 runs to that tally on Friday. But his bowling spell, which included wickets of Rajasthan Royals’ skipper Sanju Samson (10) and Shimron Hetmyer (4), put SRH within one win of their second IPL title.
Another interesting co-incidence is that Abhishek’s father, Raj Kumar, used to bowl left-arm spin during his playing days; and he too has been offering help to his son in honing this skill.
“I think my dad will be very happy because he was a left-arm spinner and he has been working really hard on my bowling,” Abhishek said in the video. “But somehow I knew that if I keep working on my bowling, I can do something for my team because I have that in myself, I would say. From junior cricket only, I have been bowling a lot and taking a few wickets.”
Abhishek suggested that he really had to impress his captain and the coaches to get a chance to bowl.
“I was just waiting for this opportunity,” he said. “It didn’t come that easy because I had to show my captain and coaches in practice because they hadn’t seen me bowling much.”