Follow UsRajasthan Royals dominated the match against Lucknow Super Giants for a major portion of the second innings. Nearly all big-hitters were back in the shed en route to 166 at the Wankhede Stadium. All except Marcus Stoinis. LSG knew they had a chance with the burly Australian at the crease despite being eight wickets down.
The momentum shifted after Prasidh Krishna conceded 19 runs in the penultimate over. The target came down to 15 in the final over. Sanju Samson did not have any other option than to give the ball to the debutant Kuldeep Sen who came in for Navdeep Saini.
Earlier in the day, the Madhya Pradesh pacer got the wicket of Deepak Hooda while conceding 25 in his first three overs, decent returns for a first-timer. But defending 15 runs against a hitter of Stoinis' caliber needed nerves of steel and the pacer perfectly executed it. Instead of gambling with yorkers, he kept the ball at a length and wide outside off-stump. The result was three dot balls in a row that ensured Stoinis' boundary and a six off the final two balls were useless.
It was something similar to his life as a kid growing up in the village of Hariharpur in the Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh. Sen's father Ram Pal, who runs a barber shop, used to thrash his son for playing cricket which he thought was a waste of time. But, young Kuldeep was steadfast in his ambition to make it big and his mother's encouragement would make his father's beating bearable.
But hailing from a humble background also made buying cricket equipment unaffordable. His ability to bowl north of 140 kmph while generating swing caught the eye of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) coach Aril Anthony who convinced Vindhya Cricket Academy to waive his fee. MPCA helped with his finances while former Rajasthan Royals pacer Ishwar Pandey mentored the youngster.
Sen made his First-Class debut for MP in the 2018-19 season of Ranji Trophy and returned with 24 wickets from 14 innings which earned him his List-A and T20 debut for MP in 2019.
He was brought for a base price of Rs 20 Lakh by Rajasthan Royals, who will be feeling a sigh of relief after their pick ended up holding his nerves and delivered their team a hard-fought win.