IPL 2023: Suyash Sharma earns plaudits from Nitish Rana, Chandrakant Pandit in dream debut

Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders registered a thumping 81-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday for perfect homecoming to Eden Gardens. Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy made a mark in KKR’s win.

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Away from the more experienced KKR squad members, another player that was pivotal in the win was Suyash Sharma. Making his IPL debut, Suyash picked up three wickets, sending Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik and Karn Sharma back, at the cost of 30 runs.

The 19-year-old Delhi player was appreciated for his efforts after the match by KKR skipper Nitish Rana and coach Chandrakant Pandit.

Anuj Rawat ☑️
Dinesh Karthik ☑️

Watch Suyash Sharma pick two quick wickets in his debut game.

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“We have seen him (Suyash) at trial matches. He is very quick in the air, and it’s very tough to pick him. It’s just the inexperience; but he showed a fighting attitude,” said Pandit.

Rana played down talks of the Delhi U-25 spinner Suyash Sharma being a “mystery spinner” and called him a normal leg-break bowler but with an ‘X-Factor’.

“Suyash is no mystery spinner,” the KKR skipper Rana said in the post-match media interaction. “He is a normal leg-spinner. But he has an X-factor because of his very high arm speed with an orthodox action, so it’s very difficult to pick him.”

In front of a packed Eden Gardens, Suyash Sharma came on as an Impact Player for Venkatesh Iyer. Despite the massive crowd and occasion of playing at home, the spinner looked confident. Sporting a head band to keep his flowing mane in check, he drew comparisons with Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra.

“He’s also very quick through the air. You will be in trouble 100 per cent if there’s a little bit of doubt while batting against him. He will improve game by game,” Rana said.

The KKR spin trio of Narine, Chakravarthy and Sharma picked up nine wickets to lay the RCB chase to waste.

“I knew Suyash would do well but I wanted to bring in Sunil in the powerplay and then Varun and both of them gave breakthroughs. It was very important to take wickets in the middle,” he said about the strategy.

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