SRH spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (far left) celebrates with Kane Williamson after taking the wicket of Mumbai Indians batsman Krunal Pandya in Sharjah on Tuesday.
Sunrisres Hyderabad are having a season full of ups and downs, the side lost two of its key members Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mitchell Marsh owing to injury quite early in the season and when they found a winning combination in the later half of the season, a vital cog in all-rounder Vijay Shankar too was down with an injury.
Despite the upsets which was further piled on with heart-breaking losses, the team kept producing match-winners that led to three big victories on the trot in last-five encounters; eventually earning them a spot in play-offs by the virtue of superior run rate.
The last of the crucial win came against mighty MI and man of the show with the ball turned out to be Shahbaz Nadeem as he surprised MI with his array of deliveries including carrom ball.
The 31-year-old spinner from UP took two wickets on the day, all in one over including the important wicket of an in-form Quinton de Kock to trigger MI’s middle-order collapse. This subsequently costs MI dearly as they could only put on 149/8 on the board with David Warner (85*) and Wriddhiman Saha (55*) chasing it for no wickets lost.
After being adjudged man of the match, Shahbaz said he came in with the plan to use the carrom ball as he felt it will do the trick against MI.
“I have been working on the carrom ball for a couple of years and I thought it was the right time to bowl it because they have a lot of left-handers in their side. The round arm delivery doesn't bounce much, but it also depends where it pitches - if it pitches on the leather it stays low and if it pitches on the seam it bounces extra. Today I was looking to get it to skid from the leather,” he explained.
