Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling coach Varun Aaron denied any lack of maturity in Abhishek Sharma, even when he was going through a rough patch and applauded his sharp cricketing brain during his stunning 135* against Delhi Capitals as well. Abhishek Sharma batted throughout the innings in SRH’s emphatic 47-run win over Delhi Capitals as well.
“I think he’s always had that maturity and that’s been there over the last couple of years. You can’t be the number one T20 batsman in the world without being mature. Obviously, he’s somebody who sees the opposition, sees the surface and decides to play a certain way,” said Varun Aaron in the post-match press conference.
Aaron also said Abhishek Sharma showed he has a sharp cricketing brain, batting with caution early on before shifting gears and playing aggressively as well.
“Today (Tuesday), it wasn’t the surface where you could just go hell for leather every single ball. So you have to respect the opponent, you have to respect the surface and he (Abhishek) did exactly that. And I think he’s shown glimpses of this in the past but obviously when you play a high risk, high reward kind of a game, sometimes it doesn’t work out and you have to give a player like Abhishek that leeway,” again added Aaron.
While young pace bowler Sakib Hussain kept the Delhi Capitals batters under pressure and picked up a wicket, it was Sri Lankan right-arm quick Eshan Malinga who dismantled the chase with figures of 4 for 32 after SRH set a target of 243 as well. Aaron also said that the variations bowled and the quality shown by the two bowlers were simply outstanding.
“They’ve got skills that set them apart from any other bowler. If we talk about Malinga, he gets the ball to reverse. We saw reverse from the 11th, 12th over today, which gets tough for the opponent because with the white ball, you really can’t see where the shiny side is. And then he can execute his yorkers, has a brilliant slow ball and can ball 140 plus, 145 almost. And with Sakib, that slow ball is just brilliant. He’s almost getting as much turn as an off spin on the slow ball, same arm speed, executes his yorkers, can ball 140 plus as well,” shared Varoon Aaron.
Varoon Aaron praises SRH pacer, Sakib
He further said that ahead of the IPL season, SRH focused on bowlers who would bowl irrespective of the surface on offer.
“So with the way the game is headed and with the way IPL is going, you have to have that pace variance where you can go from 140-145 down to almost 107 because Sakib’s one of his slow balls, 107. Going into this year, one of our plans were to have bowlers who can offer something to the captain irrespective of the surface. So, if you talk about Sakib and Malinga, they almost remove the surface from the equation with their skills. That stood out for me and for everybody,” added Aaron.
Speaking about the 21-year-old Sakib, Aaron said what stands out is his variations, noting that a 140 kmph bowler can get clobbered in the IPL, but the variety he brings to the table has done the trick.
“It’s again that variance. I’ve seen Shakib for almost two years. He always had the pace, very quick arm action, very awkward. So as a batsman, especially at the Rajeev Gandhi Stadium, on our wicket, if you have a beautiful action and you bowl 140 plus, you’re just going to get lined up.
“You’ve just got to have some difference and obviously that slow ball is brilliant. So he had the skills. Obviously, he didn’t have the access to getting coached long term and he’s put in a lot of work over the last couple of months. We’ve had camps for him specifically. He’s flown down to Bombay for five days, then we’ve called him to Chennai.” Aaron said again.
“There has been a lot of work which has gone behind the scenes immediately after the auction and he’s responded really well and he has that will, he has that hunger. That’s the most important thing and obviously you might have the best skills in the world but if you don’t have the will and don’t have the hunger, it’s not going to work out,” concluded Varun Aaron.
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