Sameer Rizvi, the fresh recruit of Chennai Super Kings, did not feel any nerves once he went out to bat against Gujarat Titans in Match 7 of the 17th Indian Premier League (IPL) in Chennai on Tuesday (March 26, 2024). It was a five-minute stay at the crease, but the 14 off six balls helped the home team cross the 200-run mark.
The 20-year-old batsman from Uttar Pradesh, acquired by CSK for Rs 8.4 crore at the auction, played to the situation. He smashed a six off the first ball he faced from star leg-spinner Rashid Khan. The right-hander sat down on his knees for a hard sweep over deep backward square leg.
He cut the next delivery to deep point for two runs before hitting another fearless six over long off by jumping down the track off Khan, whose economy rate shot up to 12.25.
Gujarat Titans pacer Mohit Sharma, a death overs specialist, got the better of Rizvi in the 20th over. The damage, however, had been done.
Rizvi, a fan of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, turned heads in the UP T20 League last year, where he scored 455 runs, including two hundreds, for the Kanpur Superstars. He showcased his six-hitting skills in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament with 18 sixes in seven appearances.
The youngster revealed that Dhoni advised him to stick to his natural game. "MSD has told me to play the way I do. He told me the game and skills are the same, but the mindset is different," Rizvi told IPL's official handle after the match.
CSK batting coach Michael Hussey praised Rizvi for the cameo on his debut batting performance. "It is a big ask for a young player to come in for his first IPL game against arguably the best T20 bowler of all time in Rashid Khan and hit the first ball for six. I mean, that's just crazy, isn't it? So we're very excited for him.
"He's got a lot of natural hitting ability, especially against the spinners. We've seen it at practice. He can hit a long way, and he can hit the ball very cleanly. The youth have no fear," said Hussey at the post match press conference.
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