Right-arm quick Simarjeet Singh, who made his Indian Premier League debut during the 2022 edition with the Chennai Super Kings, opened up on the lessons learnt under his captain MS Dhoni.
Simarjeet had a tough start to his Premier League career, as he returned 0/24 and 0/21 in two-over spells in his first two outings against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore, respectively.
The 24-year-old bounced back strongly thereafter, returning a match-winning 2/27 from four overs against his former franchise Delhi Capitals before dismissing seasoned campaigners Rohit Sharma and Jos Buttler with the new ball later in the tournament. He’d finish the competition with four wickets at 34.50 and an economy of 7.67.
The player, who was roped in by the Super Kings for INR 20 lakhs at the 2022 mega auctions, looked back at his learnings while with the franchise.
“Overall it’s Mahi bhai. I learnt how to be calm in pressure situations from Mahi (Dhoni) bhai. Watching him on the television is a different thing as one does not know what happens after we finish an over.
In reality he always keeps guiding me and pushes me to do better. Mahi bhai told me I bowled well. I can keep listening to his words forever.”
Simarjeet told CSK TV.
He spoke further of the pressure while being a part of the XI as a youngster, especially in front of a large crowd.
“In reality, I was extremely nervous during my debut game. There’s a lot of difference between sitting on the bench and being a part of the playing eleven. From the outside, I didn’t feel the pressure as such.”
Meanwhile, CSK left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary, who was the joint-wicket taker for the side in the recently concluded edition of the Premier League with 16 scalps from 13 games, credited the coaching staff for his success.
“All the coaches have contributed to my development curve in big chunks. I worked with Erik (Eric Simons, CSK bowling consultant) on developing my seam. Bala (Balaji) sir guided me a lot in regards to my line and length.
Rajive (Rajiv Kumar, CSK fielding coach) and (Michael) Hussey helped me stay in the right mindset, so I felt good interacting with them all.”
he said.
Chennai finished ninth in the IPL 2022 points table with four wins from 14 games, failing to make the playoffs for just the second time in 13 years of participation.
