Royal Challengers Bangalore's Suyash Prabhudessai impressed on his IPL debut with his all-round skills in the game against the Chennai Super Kings.
Suyash, who got his first contract with RCB in 2021, was signed up again by RCB for Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million) at the IPL 2022 auction in February.
The all-rounder has played 22 T20 matches for Goa, scoring at a strike rate of 148.16.
On Tuesday, he replaced Harshal Patel who had to leave the bio-bubble after his sister's death -- and what an impression Suyash made!
The 25 year old first pulled off a brilliant effort to have CSK's Moeen Ali run out.
In the 7th over, Glenn Maxwell bowled to Robin Uthappa who played the ball down to third man and went for the single. Suyash at backward point dived to stop the single, threw the ball towards wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik, who broke the stumps with Moeen a long way from the crease.
Then in RCB's chase of 217, Suyash impressed with his shot-making to conjure up an 18-ball 34 before getting dismissed.
En route, he posted a 50-run partnership with Shahbaz Ahmed, but it was not enough to see RCB through.
RCB Coach Mike Hesson had this to say about the Goan gladiator after the game: 'He's done everything asked of him. The fact that the opportunity opened up gave everybody a chance to see what we've been seeing for the last few weeks... great run out, getting out a key guy like Moeen Ali.'
'But he did other special things in the field. He is a high-quality player. He came in at a tough situation and just looked like he belonged,' Hesson said in a video posted on RCB's Twitter handle.
Talking about his IPL debut, Suyash said: 'The butterflies are always there when you're going out on the ground for the first time and it's a big league. The senior players made me feel very comfortable. It was my debut, but it didn't feel like I was playing for the first time. The crowds were also good so I enjoyed it.'
'When I was going in to bat, I asked DKbhai (Dinesh Karthik), how to break down the total into smaller scores. He just told me to enjoy the game and look for the opportunity to score runs. I was just looking for the loose balls and when the good balls came I was trying to convert the singles into twos,' Suyash said.
'Shahbaz also helped me with some ideas, it was good to have him also at the non-striker's end.'
At the post-match presentation, Suyash told the commentators: 'I have been with RCB since last year and I have got to learn a lot. I keep talking to seniors a lot. Last year, AB sir (A B de Villiers) was there as well. I keep interacting with Virat bhai (Kohli). As we all know, DK bhai is a very good finisher. I have learnt a lot from him this year.'
