CHENNAI: When Hyderabad opener Abhirath Reddy walked back to the pavilion after scoring 67 off 108 balls against Andhra on Day 1, his team analyst told him that he breached the 1000-run barrier (1003) in First-Class cricket. But that news also came with some banter. "He made fun of me asking if 1000 runs was enough for me because I could have done better!," he said with a laugh in a conversation with this daily on Sunday.
While his team may have not have capitalised on the good start the openers gave, for Abhirath the batter, this knock could be the start of a good run. After taking the TG20 League by storm earlier this year — he scored 549 runs in 10 matches with an average of 61 and captained the Hyderabad E-champions to the title — he is willing to make it count in the Ranji Trophy this season. "In the build-up to this Ranji Trophy, we had quite a few (practice and HCA Super League) matches. There, I tried switching from T20 to red-ball cricket. But I couldn't get many runs. So, I didn't have many red-ball runs coming into the tournament. But I knew I was hitting the ball well and I always knew I was just one good score away," he explained.
And the knock could not have come at a better time. After Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bat first, he and his opening partner Tanmay Agarwal put on a 109-run stand for the opening wicket. The plan with the bat for Abhirath on the day was to take on the spinners, a shift from his general approach of taking the cautious route against them. "The pitch in (Mulapadu) did not have a vicious turn as the one in Hyderabad. Here, it was slightly slower. (With the bat) I wanted to take the attack to the spinners so that they don't settle, because both teams are playing three spinners," he said.
Abhirath revealed how a piece of advice from mentor and former India batter Wasim Jaffer has stuck with him and felt it helped him.
"He told 'as long as you are in the ground, you think about cricket, but once you're off the ground, don't think about the game, because when you don't have runs, you tend to think too much about the game. So, it keeps more pressure on you, I mean, there's also life to live'," he recalled.
While Sunday would mark a personal milestone, the 30-year-old opener hopes to fulfill his aim: Win matches for his team. "Where I am today, with these runs, was a dream for me growing up. While I might have slightly fallen short of my potential, I feel a bit of gratitude. Going forward, I would like put my team in a good position with the bat,” he said.
