IPL 2021 was witness to the emergence of young Chetan Sakariya who has managed to impress a lot of people with his pace and ability to surprise batsmen. Rajasthan Royals’ new director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara is among those people. The Sri Lankan legend has hardly held back when it comes to lavishing praise on the youngster.
Having been handed the responsibility to bowl with the new ball and in the death overs, the 23-year-old has lived up to the faith of the management and squad. In seven matches in IPL 2021 before the tournament came to a halt because of the COVID outbreak, the left-arm pacer picked up seven scalps. He also picked up a three-wicket-haul on his IPL debut.
“Chetan Sakariya was a revelation,” Sangakkara said, “He’s had a tough year since January so far and our love and prayers are with him. His attitude and ability to build pressure and of course his skill. It’s wonderful to have him in the side. We have Anuj, Yash, Mahipal, three youngsters who have been with the franchise for a long time and I was very impressed by all three of them. Yash got a reasonable amount of time in the middle, unfortunately the match that Anuj got, he didn’t get a chance to bat, but he was outstanding in the field. And Mahi worked really hard in the nets to put his hand up for selection. Those three boys were just outstanding for us,” Sangakkara said in an RR webinar when asked about the young players in the Rajasthan Royals setup.
“Riyan Parag is also a very, very special player. He’s got a huge amount to contribute not just to Rajasthan Royals, but also Indian cricket in the future. He’s a very special talent that needs care, nurturing and development. We had Kuldip Yadav and Akash Singh the two left-arm fast bowlers who worked extremely hard but didn’t get a chance, but they worked extremely hard in the nets and I saw a lot of improvement in them from Day 1 to the time that the tournament was on. Mayank Markande, Chetan Sakariya, highly skilled cricketers… Mayank was touch and go in selection. All of them were very impressive,” he concluded.
