CHENNAI: Not every day does a bowler get to dismiss both Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the same match. And even rare are the times when a bowler achieves this feat for the second time. No wonder Shreyas Gopal was really chuffed on Tuesday, even if he did that against his home team.
“It is the best moment of my cricketing career and definitely one of my biggest IPL moments,” was the Bengaluru native’s reaction after he’d left those two greats clueless with his wrong ‘uns, spinning Rajasthan Royals to their first win of the season, against Royal Challengers Bangalore, with his 3/12.
Gopal isn’t exactly an IPL newbie (he was first picked up by Mumbai Indians in 2014), but it was in the ranks of Royals that the leg-spinner actually spread his wings. Though Jos Buttler was stealing the limelight during the team’s run to the playoffs in 2018, Gopal too was doing his bit, picking up 11 wickets in as many matches.
According to Royals spin-bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule, the inputs that have helped Gopal evolve as a spinner have hardly touched upon the technical side of things. “I just told him to bowl to his natural ability. I also told him that he can use the suggestions that I give him as per his wish and the situation,” explains Bahutule.
“I made it clear that he need not follow my instructions in toto. This has helped him become a thinking bowler, one who mixes his googlies and varies his lengths as per the batsman he is bowling to. In other words, we’ve allowed him to flight the ball as he naturally does. We’ve never asked him to bowl a restrictive line.”
Gopal himself gave a nutshell of the spontaneity that Bahutule refers to after the Royals’ win, while talking about how he plotted the wickets of Kohli and De Villiers. “It’s hard to plan a dismissal for batsmen like them. You just need to be able to bowl your best ball, and hit the best area on a particular wicket. You obviously do your homework: what the conditions are like, how the wicket is, and how the opposition has been playing.”
Considering the amount of names that tend to pop up from this event and fade away in a season or two, many may be tempted to dismiss this Gopal outing as a flash in the pan.But Karnataka state selection committee chairman Raghuram Bhat has had the chance to observe Gopal from close quarters. “After this, he will be more confident. One can be assured of many more credible performances from him in the coming days.”