CHENNAI: Rahul Radesh has been known to keep the scoreboard ticking for Hyderabad in recent Ranji Trophy seasons, even when most of his batting colleagues are out. Many of his memorable knocks come out of frustrating the opposition, stringing partnerships with the lower order. But the southpaw thought that big knocks were missing – the daddy hundreds.
With new management in for the season, Radesh’s first-class career has a new chapter. With Sai Pragnay Reddy as Hyderabad’s new wicketkeeper, the 23-year-old was promoted up the order. And so far, it can be said that he is enjoying the role. Beginning with a 40 against Tripura in Elite Group B, he went on to score a fifty in the next match against Andhra. On Wednesday, batting from No 3, he scored 86 against Punjab but felt he missed out on a big knock. “Normally, I bat at number five and number six. So, I got that opportunity to bat up the order. And over the past few years, I’ve been putting on performances like this, but didn’t really convert into a big score like a 150 or a double hundred. On Day 3, I felt there was a good opportunity,” he told this daily from Secunderabad.
The move to push Radesh up the order was made by the team management, which included team mentor and all-time leading Ranji Trophy run-scorer Wasim Jaffer and coach and former Hyderabad captain Anirudh Singh. “There are two keepers playing in the eleven, so the other keeper (Sai Pragnay Reddy) is keeping and I’m just a batter. Earlier as a keeper, it would be tough to play at three or open because you would have less time to recover. This year there was a chat with the management also, I think they took the decision and I was up for it,” he added.
And for that, Radesh put in the hard yards during the off-season. “I worked on my technique in the off-season. I made a few adjustments playing against spin and found new areas of scoring as well, this season. I have also worked on my lofted shots. In addition to that, I'm working on my sweep. We knew that we would get turning tracks (in Secunderabad), so I had to sharpen my skill with the sweeps as well,” he said.
In the time he has tried to reinvent himself, Radesh credited Anirudh's guidance. “I have been working with him for the last six to eight months. He has given me a lot of confidence in my game. He kept telling me to back myself, back my strokes. He’s been a good confidence booster,” he said.
Heartbreaks with the bat are not new for the southpaw. He had to wait for more than a year for a first-class century last year. He believed that a big score was not far away. “Actually going into this match, I knew that this could be like a defining moment in my career from having a decent run to making it a very good run. So, I felt this was the match but it did not turn out the way. I can still build on this for the next match maybe and hope to score big,” he signed off.