“I Am Looking Forward To Scoring More Runs For My Team,” Says Comeback Man Priyank Panchal
Sep 8, 2017 at 1:32 PM
After missing out on an opportunity to travel South Africa for the two unofficial Test matches due to dengue fever, it was an opportunity for Priyank Panchal to showcase his talent in the pink ball Duleep Trophy where he continued his form of the Ranji Trophy season by scoring a century in his first ever Duleep Trophy game. He laid a strong base with Sudip Chatterjee and shared 83 runs for the first wicket, to lead India Red to a score of 232 at the end of day 1,
“I wanted to stay longer in the middle as I was hungry for runs. I missed the tour of South Africa for India A due to dengue and was taking rest before coming here to play the domestic season opener. I could have scored more runs as after some initial hiccups the red clay pitch was perfect for my batting. I don’t know where my performance would take me to, but for now, I am trying to score as much as runs I could do for my team,” Panchal told HT at the end of day 1.
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Panchal went onto play an innings of 105 before part-timer Karun Nair trapped him in front of the stumps. Surprisingly, four out of five wickets were taken by part-timers. While Nair grabbed two wickets, Murali Vijay was the second man to grab other two wickets. Panchal, along with Chatterjee had tamed the India Green’s new ball bowlers that they had no impact all throughout the day.
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Coming back from dengue fever, Panchal is now looking to enjoy his game and get ready for the upcoming season,
“I am feeling fresh now and enjoying my cricket. Undoubtedly, the wicket is slow and you have to play with a straight bat as the rivals are bowling in right areas and that too according to their field. It’s my first game with pink ball and that too under the lights so I was quite cautious in the beginning. Later on, I opted to play a bit late as the pink ball does reverse swing quite often and it’s difficult for a batsman to be pre-committed for a shot,” he added.
At the end of day 1, India Red were five down for 232 and from here, the competition is open as few early wickets can guarantee India Green a comeback in the game whereas a partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Krishnappa Gotham can do good for India Red.
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