IPL 2022 |Kuldeep Sen bowled the hardest over under pressure and did excellent job, says Kumar Sangakkara

Kuldeep Sen became the newest find in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 during Rajasthan Royals’ fixture against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Sunday (April 10) at Wankhede Stadium. The 25-year-old fast bowler, on his debut in the cash-rich league, held his nerve against Marcus Stoinis to successfully defend 15 runs off the final over to drive his side to a nail-biting three-run win. Though Stoinis scored 10 off his final two overs, the match was out of their hands before that.

In his first outing in IPL 2022, Kuldeep returned decent figures of 4-0-35-1. His only wicket was Deepak Hooda, whom he cleaned up in the 10th over of the LSG’s innings.

Kumar Sangakkara, the director of cricket and head coach for Rajasthan Royals, lauded Kuldeep for staying calm till the end. “I had no conversation with Kuldeep before the last over,” Sangakkara revealed at the post-match press conference.

“It was Sanju, Jos and the other players around him that supported him. We had pretty simple plans in terms of bowling at the death. I just want to say how impressed everyone, especially I am with how Kuldeep Sen handled his first game; how he bowled, how he thinks... He bowled the hardest over under pressure and did an excellent job for us.”

In 16 first-class matches he has played so far Madhya Pradesh, Kuldeep has picked up 44 wickets. He also has four List A scalps and claimed 12 wickets from 18 T20 outings.

Following the win, the RR pipped Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to sit at the top of the points table. They have won three matches in four attempts, while the KKR have three in five.