Former India batsman Virender Sehwag heaped effusive praise on Punjab Kings’ youngster Shahrukh Khan, likening him to Mumbai Indians’ renowned power-hitter Kieron Pollard.
Sehwag is very impressed with Shahrukh’s ball-striking ability on show during the recently suspended IPL 2021 as he compared him with how a young Pollard was in his early years in the league.
The 25-year-old hit the ball hard in his role of a middle-order batsman for PBKS. He was selfless in his approach through his seven outings before the competition was postponed indefinitely due to a surge of COVID-19 positive cases inside different teams’ bubbles.
“He reminds us of a young Pollard when he had just come into the IPL. Everyone was running after him because he could just stand and hit sixes off bowlers.
Shahrukh has the same quality. Although he has played those little innings and hasn’t played a big knock. But the lower you bat in the line-up, there’s only so much he can do,”
Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
PBKS picked Shahrukh at the auction in February for a sum of INR 5.25 crores after he impressed with his explosive batsmanship in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 for Tamil Nadu.
Sehwag said that if Shahrukh gets the chance to bat higher up the order and clicks, he can even make a century for Punjab Kings. He feels it’s an option that the team must definitely try at some stage when the IPL 2021 resumes or possibly in the next season.
“If he can be given a chance to bat higher, the day he clicks, he could even hit a century.
He is the kind of player for whom it doesn’t matter what happened to the previous ball. Many batsmen think ‘Oh, I got beaten, this one turned’.
Those who don’t think about the previous ball, have a higher success rate,”
Sehwag said.
