IPL 2020 | Took the risk early on and luckily it paid off for us, expresses Wriddhiman Saha

In a must-win encounter for the Sunrisers, David Warner lost the toss and were sent in to bat but the biggest surprise on the night was when Warner revealed the playing XI, which had a certain Jonny Bairstow missing. However, in his place was Wriddhiman Saha, who wrecked the Delhi bowlers to all parts of the ground, starting from the powerplay phase. His knock was so valuable in the context of the game, as the Sunrisers were under the pump after the loss against Punjab. 

Alongside Warner, the right-hander put on a 77-run partnership just in the powerplay overs, taking Delhi’s pace-unit aback by their swashbuckling approach. Later on, despite Warner’s untimely dismissal, the right-hander continued his game, taking every opportunity to swat the ball to the boundary, for a 45-ball 87, which took the Men in Orange to a total of 219, which was enough for a commanding win. 

Following the winning display, the wicketkeeper-batsman accepted that the approach was to take the risk early on against Delhi’s pace unit, which luckily paid off for them. After three overs, with David Warner entering dangerous territory with his shots as Saha dropped down to play the second-fiddle. 

“Actually in my first game, I analysed how to go about things and stuff but this time around, I didn’t do that. I went to David (Warner) and asked him how we should approach, We took the risk early on and we carried on the momentum later in the innings. Two-three overs later, Warner started getting into the groove, so I just played second-fiddle during that time. He played a really good innings and after he got out, I continued to take the opportunity and play my game, putting the bad balls away to the boundary.” said Saha in the post-match show with Rashid Khan. 

While Saha performed exceedingly well with the bat, it was Rashid Khan’s spell that blew Delhi out of the encounter. After scoring 54 runs in the powerplay for the loss of two wickets, Delhi were still in the encounter, with Hetmyer and Rahane at the crease. However, in the span of four deliveries, the young leggie blew the game open for Sunrisers, picking up twin wickets. He ended the night with figures of 3/7 in his four overs, where he revealed that his focus was just to concentrate on bowling ‘economically’.

“There wasn’t anything special about this performance. I just wanted to focus on my bowling and not look at the scoreboard, that we have a lot of runs. If I bowl with a good economy, that itself is a success for me, wicket would definitely come my way. Very happy to have the best IPL figure this season.”