IPL 2020 | RCB add Shubhang Hedge and Prateek Jain as net bowlers
RCB has started practicing after completing their mandatory 6-day quarantine
|IPL
Royal Challengers Bangalore has decided to add five net bowlers to its contingent ahead of the beginning of IPL 2020, which includes Karnataka’s Shubhang Hedge and Prateek Jain, both of whom had a stellar domestic season last year. In total, RCB now has 11 net bowlers and 3 throwdown specialists.
On Thursday, five net bowlers and one throwdown specialist left the Indian shores to join the RCB squad in the United Arab Emirates, ahead of IPL 2020. Now, the RCB contingent has 11 net bowlers and three throwdown specialists. The first batch of bowlers had accompanied the team last month, but due to the scarcity of bowlers more domestic players had to be called to strengthen their net practice.
The second batch includes two Karnataka talents - pacer Prateek Jain and all-rounder Shubhang Hegde. They will be joining their state-mate Pravin Dubey, who was picked in the first batch of bowlers. This will result in a confidence boost to both the youngsters, who have shown their mettle in domestic cricket.
Last season after the retirement of Sreenath Arvind and R Vinay Kumar's move to Pondicherry, Prateek finally got his opportunity to play for Karnataka in the Ranji trophy. The left-arm pacer didn’t fail to impress one and all in the limited matches he got, picking up 16 wickets in the five first-class matches, including a career-best of 5 for 38 against Railways. Apart from Prateek, two other pacers, Andhra's KV Sasikanth, who had a 38-wicket haul 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season, and Babasafi Pathan from Baroda have also been picked.
Shubhang, a young promising all-rounder, has had limited exposure in first-class cricket, having spent much of the 2019-2020 season with junior India and Karnataka teams. The left-arm spinner, however, hasn’t failed to highlight his name as one of the talents to watch out for in the domestic circuit. Other players include Delhi's Milind Tandon and Shubham Raheja, a Haryana-based spinner.
