Twitter reacts to Navdeep Saini channeling his inner Waqar Younis to castle Roston Chase

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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No Bumrah, No Bhuvneshwar and No Deepak Chahar? No problem, says Navdeep Saini. The Haryana-born pacer, today on his ODI debut, channelled his inner Waqar Younis, bowling an absolute peach of an inswinging yorker to go through the gate of Roston Chase and castle the batsman’s off-stump.

It is actually insane how spoiled India are when it comes to the pace bowling department and today, an injury to Deepak Chahar meant that the team got the opportunity to hand an ODI debut to a tearaway quick who’s been sending shockwaves throughout the country with his performances on the domestic circuit - Navdeep Saini. His ODI career got off to an unpleasant start, with Evin Lewis smacking his first-ever delivery in the format straight past him for a boundary, but well, there’s a reason why Saini is considered to be a world-class prospect and in the overs that followed, the Haryana-born pacer proved the same.

After conceding eight runs off his first over, Saini conceded just 10 off his next four and reaped the reward for putting persistent pressure on the batsman in his fifth over by claiming his maiden ODI scalp, that of Shimron Hetmyer via a sharp bouncer. Saini is a rare breed in India, for he has all the ammo an elite pacer should possess - swing, pace, bounce and variations and with every passing delivery, he slowly started showcasing his skills. It, however, peaked in the 6th over of his spell, after what he did to Roston Chase.

Having just lost Hetmyer, the duo of Chase and Nicholas Pooran were looking to rebuild, not trying to take too many risks in the process. And after going short, short and short - to all batsmen he bowled to - Saini came up with the ultimate double-bluff to Chase. On the third ball of the 32nd over, with Chase - who was looking to do nothing but rotate strike - hanging on the backfoot, Saini unleashed a ripper of a reverse-swinging yorker, catching the batsman off guard. 

The ball, which started around the sixth stump, viciously tailed in in the very last moment, snuck in under Chase’s bat and castled his off-stump, leaving the batsman bewildered. As the bails went for a toss, an exuberant Saini jumped in joy and celebrated his wicket, throwing a powerful fist pump to celebrate his second-ever ODI wicket. The pace, the reverse-swing and the delivery as a whole were reminiscent of the good ol’ vintage yorkers that a certain Waqar Younis from Pakistan used to deliver. The second of many many ODI wickets for Saini to come, for sure.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the incident: 

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