With three wickets on his debut, Suyash Sharma has burst onto the Indian cricket scene, and he is here to stay.
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“Freeze this moment a little bit longer, make each sensation a little bit stronger.” The line from Canadian progressive rock band Rush’s song Time Stand Still is probably what 19-year-old Suyash Sharma felt when he took his first Indian Premier League (IPL) wicket on debut for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The opponent, the mighty Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Making your IPL debut without ever playing any List A, First Class, or T20 matches for a former champion is a huge achievement in itself. Taking three wickets in the same match is the stuff dreams are made of. With that on his debut, Suyash Sharma has burst onto the Indian cricket scene, and he is here to stay.
The Knight Riders were coming off the back of a disappointing loss against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their first IPL match this season. Pundits and fans had all come to the conclusion that KKR had one of the most disbalanced squads in the tournament, and would not make it past the big teams easily. Well, they just did and how. While Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy got rid of the big guns, Sharma came in the back end of the match as an impact player and boy, did he ever have an impact.
His first IPL wicket came in the form of Anuj Rawat, RCB’s impact player in the match. The teenage leggie, who has adopted quite a peculiar bowling action, completely caught the Bangalore lower order off guard and absolutely annihilated any hope for the men in red. For Rawat’s wicket, Sharma can thank Narine, who took a fine catch.
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His second wicket was the most significant one as the man standing opposite to him was the former KKR skipper, Dinesh Karthik. Karthik is someone who has been in the game for years and is one of the most experienced cricketers in India today. His long spell with the Knight Riders meant that the veteran wicket-keeper batter knew the Eden Gardens track better than anyone else in the RCB team. However, he was completely thrown off scent by Suyash, who bowled a brilliant googly which the former KKR skipper skied and was caught by Varun Chakravarthy.
Suyash’s third and final wicket of the day came in the form of Karn Sharma, who was dismissed for just 1. Karn also skied the ball like Karthik and was caught by the current KKR skipper, Nitish Rana. At the end of it all, Suyash finished with 3-30 off his four overs. Think about that number for a while. Here is a man who has never played any First Class, T20 or List A cricket, yet in his first IPL match, he absolutely set the stadium on fire, and the Eden Gardens had a new addition to its long list of heroes.
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While the likes of Shardul Thakur, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy outshone the teenager on the day, there is absolutely no doubt that Suyash will be a crucial part of the KKT set up in the near future. One can only hope he keeps his form up, and India will have a gem of a leggie on their hands.
