New Delhi: After impressing everyone by slamming an unbeaten 105 under immense pressure, young all-rounder Musheer Khan said he planned to just bat the whole day instead of thinking about the run he would score. Under overcast skies at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Musheer stood up to hit an unbeaten 105 and helped India B go from 94/7 to finish Day One of the Duleep Trophy first round game at 202/7 against India A.
“When I went in for batting, I was thinking of only playing as many balls as possible. I was not thinking about the runs, I just wanted to bat the whole day. I don’t think too much and I wanted to take it session by session.”
“When I went in, the ball was swinging a little bit, I was only trying to play late and close to the body. I did not want to play any risky shots then, just played to the merit of the ball. Whatever runs come, it’ll come, I was not trying to go in search of it,” said Musheer to reporters in Bengaluru.
Apart from bringing up his maiden Duleep Trophy century in 205 balls, Musheer also stitched an unbroken 108-run stand with pacer Navdeep Saini (29 not out) for the eighth wicket.
“Saini bhai came in and gave me the confidence. He told me to have faith saying ‘I’ll stay, even if you give me two balls to face or six.’ He just told me to have faith in him, and that’s what happened.”
“We were communicating well in the middle. What I was thinking was the same that he was thinking as well which was to take the runs as and when they come but not go searching for it,” added Musheer.
Another interesting aspect of Musheer’s batting was him hitting left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav for five boundaries. He revealed conversations with his India B team-mates Sarfaraz Khan (his elder brother) and Rishabh Pant helped him counter Kuldeep.
“I was playing him (Kuldeep) for the second time, I had played him in the Academy before. We have a lot of experienced players in our side like my brother and Rishabh bhai also. They were telling me which balls of his could be effective and that I should wait for the short ball.”
“So I was thinking about that when I was playing him. But once I was set, I was able to play him normally. I feel that if you get set on this wicket, it becomes easier for batting,” he stated.
Musheer signed off by saying the coaching provided to him and Sarfaraz by their father Naushad Khan to bat for a long time paid off, especially when it mattered the most in the Duleep Trophy.
It was quite fitting that Naushad’s dedicated and relentless coaching culminated in Musheer’s first Duleep Trophy century coming on Teachers’ Day, making it another unforgettable day for the Khan family.
“Whatever practice I do with my dad is all around red-ball cricket. Whatever work we do is for red-ball cricket. He tells me there’s no need to go out towards other things. The more we stay in red-ball cricket, the better because this works well.”
“There was a Mumbai camp as well, I got a lot of good practice there as well. And I was constantly practicing with my dad. I had a feeling that a chance could come at any time so I was constantly practicing for that.”
–IANS