The 20-year-old viciously slog-swept his first ball within the IPL, off arguably the perfect spinner on the planet, for a six over sq. leg. Ravindra Jadeja, an excellent finisher in his personal proper, Dwayne Bravo, who has additionally completed video games for CSK previously, and another gamers and workers exchanged high-fives within the dug-out after Rizvi had introduced his arrival.
Three balls later, Rizvi dared to cost at a 96kph dart from Rashid and swung so arduous that he cleared long-off, regardless of mis-hitting it. Chepauk began warming as much as the brand new finisher. When Rizvi tried to smash one other six, off Mohit Sharma within the final over, he was caught on the long-on boundary. The injury? Fourteen off six balls with the strike fee studying 233.33 in his first IPL innings.
“When Rashid got here to bowl within the nineteenth over, the coach [Stephen Fleming] instructed me if a wicket falls, you’ll exit to bat,” Rizvi instructed reporters in Chennai. “After that, it was set in my thoughts that it was the nineteenth over and it was a spinner bowling and if they’re sending me at this level of the match, anybody who walks in can be anticipated to smash boundaries. So, in my head, just one factor was occurring – I’ve to exit and hit it large – I used to be clear about that.”
“Earlier than I stepped onto the bottom on the workforce assembly, I obtained my debut cap,” Rizvi recalled. “And that is once I came upon I used to be enjoying the primary match. I used to be slightly nervous once I was fielding however I by no means obtained to bat. However, within the second match, I mellowed down a bit and was not feeling nervous; there was no such stress. I believe I obtained used to the group after the match, in order that’s why I used to be not feeling a lot stress.”
“In the event you take a look at my earlier matches, I’ve all the time been enjoying effectively in opposition to spinners,” Rizvi mentioned. “Even on the nets, I’ve been enjoying effectively in opposition to spin. Once I was a child, my uncle [Tanqib Akhtar] was the one who made me observe batting in opposition to spin, he would bowl with tennis balls in a 30-yard circle. He would say if it went out of that 30-yard circle it will be a six. So, slowly we stored working towards through the years.”
Did the hefty IPL price ticket invite stress? “There isn’t any stress. Value isn’t a stress for a participant, it is simply how I carry out and rating,” Rizvi mentioned. “MS bhaiya (brother) has instructed me to deal with efficiency as the value tag is completely different for everybody. The principle factor is the way you carry out and the way you cope with stress.”
Rizvi, although, admitted he did not anticipate such excessive bids from any franchise. Now he’s relishing batting with Dhoni on the nets.
“It was a really good feeling to be picked by CSK,” he mentioned. “It was my dream to fulfill and play with Mahi bhaiya. And, that dream was fulfilled. Aside from that, I actually didn’t anticipate to get picked by CSK or another franchise for this quantity. However I believe they [CSK] confirmed religion in me, so I actually preferred that. One factor that I like most about this workforce is everybody backs each other, all of them are very useful; it’s wonderful.
“I met Dhoni bhaiya for the primary time on March 16, once I joined the workforce. It was only a informal ‘hello, howdy!’ after which we met on the bottom. On the bottom, he taught me a couple of recommendations on how you can deal with stress, and how you can play in entrance of the group. He instructed me to play my pure recreation.”
Rizvi additionally batted forward of Dhoni – and Jadeja – in his second IPL recreation and made a press release. It has been a season of change at CSK and to this point, it has been clean.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
