IPL 2020 | Priyam Garg a ‘really exciting’ talent for the future, states Kane Williamson

Having been purchased for INR 1.90 crore in the auction, and having torn the domestic circuit apart last year, India’s U19 skipper Priyam Garg entered IPL 2020 with quite a reputation and he did instant justice to the same with a picture-perfect fifty against the Super Kings. Post the CSK game, opportunities for the youngster were few and far between, but on Sunday in Qualifier 2, Garg, in the absence of Saha, was promoted to open the batting. The 19-year-old struck two monstrous sixes and showcased, yet again, brimming talent, before was dismissed prematurely by a ripping in-cutter by Stoinis. Garg departed for a quickfire 17, but his innings made it clear that he was there to stay in the long-haul.

Garg was sent out to open the batting to up the ante pretty early on, thanks to SRH chasing a mammoth 190, but while the youngster did manage to inject some early momentum, the rest of the top-order collapsed cheaply, reducing SRH to 44-3 inside the first 5 overs. Williamson noted that the jolts up-front, in the form of early wickets, made it tough for the side to chase down a daunting total and expressed disappointment over SRH having not made their second final in 3 years.

After losing each of their first three games, and also losing key players due to injury, SRH were touted for the wooden spoon, but Warner’s men turned things around drastically towards the end to surge into the playoffs as the most ‘in-form’ team in the competition. Williamson expressed that he would have ‘loved’ to see SRH make the final, but claimed that it was an effort and a half from the boys to finish where they did, particularly after the tumultuous start.

“Season of fine lines, I think. We had a number of close losses and we weren’t perhaps playing at our best and I think every team is very very strong. Everyone’s beaten everyone else, you’ve got to be at the top of your game and I think as a team, we were looking at that rhythm to our play and it perhaps took a little bit of time. I think a lot of teams were in a similar boat. It was nice we were able to find it at the crunch time and win 4 or 5 in a row but we would have loved to have gone through.”