Chennai, Sep 6 (PTI) With a bashful smile playing around his lips, Shreyas Gopal admits that he used to imitate leg-spin legend Anil Kumble’s action as a budding cricketer.
“As a kid, I imitated him. I was not a pure bowler when I was growing up. So, whenever I bowled, I imitated him.
“Then when I began to bowl when I was 16-17, that’s the only action I knew. So, I had to bowl that action itself,” Shreyas said.
On Sunday during the Duleep Trophy final between South and East Zones, that doppelganger kid cricketer of the past achieved a major milestone in his 13-year-old domestic career — playing in his 100th first-class match.
The whole journey still amazes Shreyas.
“Playing 100 first-class games…it’s a very special achievement and I’m very grateful for this (100th FC game). But if you ask me 12-13 years back, would I have thought of it? No.
“At that time, the dream was to still play Ranji Trophy and seal my spot over there. So, yeah, I’m very happy about this,” he said.
The big moment came during the Duleep Trophy final where Shreyas turned out for South Zone against East Zone at Chepauk here.
The first day of the contest did not pan out in Shreyas’ favour, conceding 77 runs from 19 overs for no return.
But for a cricketer who saw tougher moments in his career, the off-colour day did not carry an unbearable burden.
“I put in a lot of work, to be honest, especially on bowling. I was told (in the nascent stage) that there are not too many leg spinners who have played upwards of 30-40-50 games.
“I think Karan (Sharma) has that thing. I wanted to show that leg spinners can play red ball cricket and still be successful. I put a lot of work into my bowling.” Shreyas then explained the behind the scene work.
“Using the crease is something that I have worked on over the years. Then the switch between T20/white ball cricket and red ball cricket is a more mental switch. You have been bowling so many years, so the line length and things are one thing. But it’s more a mental switch where when you come to red ball cricket, you have to be okay to be bowling 20, 24, 25 overs in a day.
“It’s definitely not easy being a leg spinner to be bowling 25 overs. It’s going to take a lot out of your body and then come out in the middle and try to make some runs. So that’s always challenging, but that’s what we’re here for,” he said.
Shreyas has taken 305 wickets from 100 FC matches and has made 4133 runs with six hundreds, most of them came when Karnataka were pushed to the wall.
Those meticulous nature and willingness to fight hard came handy when he faced Virat Kohli in the IPL, dismissing the icon three times in six innings.
“Those moments are very, very special. Hopefully, I get a few more in the coming years. When you’re bowling to some of these great players, you go with your plan.
“You don’t try to hit any of their weaknesses because they don’t have too many weaknesses. So you go with your plan, you trust your plan, and you try and deliver the best ball that you’ve thought of and visualised. And then you take the result as it comes,” he detailed.
But as many have envisioned, Shreyas could not break down the doors to the national team.
He has no regrets, finding contentment in his fruitful outing for Karnataka in domestic circuit.
“In terms of red ball, the two Ranji Trophies (2014-15, 2015-16) that we won with the Irani Trophy. I think we’ve had some great moments and we’ve won a lot of tournaments across white and red ball.
“The Irani Trophy, when I got my hat-trick in my first year, that was the first thing that came into my mind when I was walking onto the field today, time just flies isn’t it? It’s been a few years already and I’m playing my 100th game.” Shreyas also cherishes the interactions he had with former India captain MS Dhoni while playing for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
“…Just the way he keeps the environment, right from there to the way he speaks to the younger boys, to the way he handles situations, the way he captains, the way he’s trying to read the game.
“I’ve asked him so many questions over the last two years. I wouldn’t say because of that we won, but definitely some of those moves, I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t had that experience or that time with CSK and Dhoni,” he added.
Perfections in an imperfect journey, one can imagine. But that makes the ride all the more thrilling. PTI UNG ATK
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