"He has been a top-5 bowler in IPL": Ravichandran Ashwin praises Sandeep Sharma

Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], March 25 (ANI): Rajasthan Royals (RR) spinner Ravichandran Ashwin praised right-arm seamer Sandeep Sharma following his brilliant performance against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 on Sunday.
Riding on Sanju Samson's onslaught and Trent Boult's brilliance, RR started their IPL 2024 campaign with a win at home as RR registered a 20-run victory against LSG at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
Sandeep grabbed one wicket and conceded just 22 runs in his spell of three overs. He bowled exceptionally well in the death overs at guided his side to a comfortable victory.
The 37-year-old cricketer spoke about the partnership between Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag. Both the batters put on a partnership of 93 runs in 59 balls. Where on one side, Samson played an unbeaten knock of 82 runs off 52 balls which was laced with six maximums and three fourson the other hand Parag scored important 43 runs in 29 balls which included three sixes and a four in his innings.
"I think it was a wicket of two halves, I thought it stuck in the pitch in the first half, it was a bit tacky, it depends on how much water you put on. Sanju and Riyan batted really well, but I felt we were 10 runs short, with so many impact players coming up in the form of Hetmyer and Jurel. But the pitch holds up well over here. I went for 12 off the first two balls, it needs a different mindset, having come from Test cricket. I'm in a good mental and physical space at the moment though. I went for 15 in the 1st over in the powerplay, I bowl 2 or 3 at times, I try to forget it away, it's a different ball game after the powerplay," Ashwin said in a post-match interview.
The Chennai-born player further stated that the right-arm pacer from South Africa performed really well in the first game of his IPL career and he is sure that he will perform really well in the near future.
"The game is built by perceptions, if you look at the way Sandy has bowled, he has been a top-5 bowler (in the IPL)- he's a character, does the dirty work for us, did a lot to cover for Prasidh in the last season as well. I see him as a fighter - bowlers getting 2 bouncers is the only fillip in this format and the bowlers are looking to use it. Boult has performed for a long time and Nandre did well in his 1st game, I see him doing a lot more in the future," the veteran off-spinner added.
Coming to the match, the hosts, the Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to bat first.
Openers Jos Buttler (11) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (24 in 12 balls, with three fours and a six) departed without making much impact, reducing the team to 49/2. Following that, a 93-run partnership happened between Riyan and skipper Sanju, who scored 82* in 52 balls, with three fours and six sixes. Dhruv Jurel (20* in 12 balls, with a four and six) finished off well to take RR to 193/4 in 20 overs.
LSG was reduced to 11/3 in the chase of 194 runs. Then Deepak Hooda (26 in 13 balls, with two fours and two sixes) along with KL stabilised the innings a bit. Following Hooda's dismissal, which left LSG at 60/4, KL stitched an 85-run stand with Nicholas Pooran (64 in 41 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes). But a win was not meant to be for LSG as RR made a comeback with timely wickets, reducing LSG to 173/6 in 20 overs.
Trent Boult (2/35) was the pick of the bowlers for RR. Sandeep, Ashwin, Nandre Burger and Yuzvendra Chahal took a wicket each.
Samson was given the 'Player of the Match' award for his half-century. (ANI)