IND vs SL | Realised that variations are important for me as well, asserts Navdeep Saini

01/11/2020

After another match-winning performance in Pune on Friday, Navdeep Saini has stated that variations are important for him if he has to succeed and can't really bank on sheer pace. The Delhite has also added that the ball that got the better of DDanushka Gunathilaka exceeded his expectations.

Navdeep Saini's arrival on the international stage and his subsequent rise in recent months has been a story for Indian cricket in the last year or so. A bowler with varied degree of skillset - be it bouncing out oppositions on flat Indian decks or dishing out yorkers with sheer audacity, his ability has kept India going even when Jasprit Bumrah was not playing. On being asked about the evolution as a limited-overs bowler, Saini stressed on the fact that it is his new-found ability to use his variations differently that has been the calling card.

"When I used to play with the red ball earlier, I used to find bowling with the white ball difficult. But now after practicing, I have been finding it easier and have been getting better. My seniors have been helping me as well as to how to bowl in different situations," the 27-year-old told the official broadcaster, reported Cricbuzz.

"I was playing a T20I [for India] after a while and have had some good practice which gave me the confidence. It's important to be confident as bowler about your plans, and it's also to use the variations. I was more happy to take a wicket with the yorker (Gunathilaka dismissal) because I nailed it better than expectations. I am gaining confidence with both white-ball and red-ball.

"I feel the more I play [white-ball cricket], the better I will become. When I made my T20 debut, all I thought of was pace. But as I have played more, I have realised that variations are important too," he added.

Saini is most likely to share the new ball with Jasprit Bumrah in the ODI series against Australia, starting January 14 in Mumbai.