Indian Premier League has turned out to be a very big platform for the young players to shine against the established stars of world cricket. Several players including Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have become integral parts of the Indian team after their exploits in the cash-rich IPL. The young stars have managed to stun some of the biggest players in the cricketing world. Shreyas Gopal was one of the players who shocked many by claiming a hat-trick in 2019 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The leg-spinner took the big wickets of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Marcus Stoinis on consecutive deliveries to achieve the massive feat.
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The 28-year-old recalled the moment when he took the hat-trick as and said that he was considering every ball as free-hit when he was bowling to Kohli and De Villiers as the odds were stacked against him.
“I knew every ball was like a free-hit and I just didn’t want to get hit for sixes, that was my plan. I knew they had to come hard at me and I had only two fielders on the shorter side. The odds were stacked against me. But since I have played here a lot, I understood the wicket and conditions better, and realised that I had to bowl a little more overspin than pushing it through. That helped me, but on another day those deliveries could have gone out of the park against such world class batters,” Gopal said on the sidelines of the inaugural edition of the Maharaja Trophy.
Gopal has played for Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the past while he was part of Mumbai Indians in the 2022 season.
Talking about his bowling plan, Gopal said that the spinner needs to have a big heart and he tries to get the extra dot balls to put opposition under pressure.
“As a spinner the one thing I have been taught is you need to have a big heart because every batter targets spinners, and you will be targeted. Batters will look to take you on and score big against you, but you need to have a big heart and come in with more aggression after that. You also need to understand the conditions and bowl smartly to get that extra dot ball or wicket,” he said.
“Spinners are capable of taking three wickets in an over and there’s more chances for wickets in death bowling, but you also can get hit a lot more. As a bowler, trying to assess conditions beforehand helps, small things like that is what will give you the edge or that magic over,” he added.
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