SRH bowler Sandeep Sharma (right) reacts after bowling out Devdutt Padikkal in Sharjah on Saturday.
Sandeep Sharma’s accuracy to bowl knuckle-ball has really surprised many cricket analyst as it’s a difficult bowl to master. With the wickets favouring bowlers as the tournament inches closer to its culmination, bowlers like Sandeep have used their ability to bowl such slower deliveries on sticky surfaces to bamboozled rival batsmen.
This was pretty much evident in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s five-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore as the Haryana pacer picked the prized scalps of in-form Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli on the night to eventually restrict RCB at 120/7. His spell turned out to be the game-changer as SRH batsman chased down the run-a-ball target despite losing wickets at regular interval.
Sharma was deservingly awarded man of the match for his 2/20 spell and said getting Kohli’s wicket was special.
"Kohli is one of the greatest batsmen this sport has seen. To get him out is always special. When I started bowling, the wicket was sticky. My plan was to bowl wicket to wicket and swing the ball. It was swinging nicely as it has got cooler over here,” he said.
Speaking of his much-talked-about knuckle delivery, Sharma said his SRH overseas teammate Jonny Bairstow has come out of the way to help him out to add more skills to his arsenal.
“I have been bowling knuckle balls and getting big help from Jonny Bairstow, who is helping me add deliveries and how I can go about my business,” he said. We are now finding our momentum. We are excited about the next game."
