Follow UsIn a rather lacklustre season for Punjab Kings, Prabhsimran Singh has emerged as a gem. Not only has the right-handed opener shown his attacking prowess with the bat, but he has also managed to get better and better with his ability to absorb pressure.
On Saturday (May 13), against Delhi Capitals, Prabhsimran showed the world what exactly he is capable of, with a scintillating century (65-ball 103) that bailed PBKS out of trouble. It was an innings out of the top draw, considering how he changed his gear towards the latter half of the first innings. It also was only the third occasion of an uncapped player scoring a century for the franchise, with Paul Valthaty and Shaun Marsh being the other two.
In 12 innings this season, the right-hander has amassed 334 runs, striking at 153.91, and got to his ton in fine fashion. In the last 15 deliveries leading to his century, the youngster struck at 200, and his knock was the biggest difference between the two sides on the night. Punjab Kings’ spin bowling Sunil Joshi had all the time in the world to shed light on the youngster.
"I think the talent was always there with him (Prabhsimran), I think the maturity has changed. He started thinking about the game. Started thinking and respecting the bowlers also. That has helped him a lot,” Sunil Joshi said in the post-match press conference.
“Staying calm in different situations. He got a lot of starts but he could not convert them. It's just the beginning. He is a young kid, lot of talent, he will get a lot of opportunities," Sunil Joshi added.
Joshi also reckoned that the ability to have different shots has helped the opener, and added that this century was around the corner.
“It is important what you practise. If you are an opener and you can play shots around the ground, then you can put pressure on the bowlers. It is just a start for him. If you go in the past this year, he has performed very well across formats and tournaments - in Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare Trophy. He’s a young talent, and we always need to persist with the talent,” he added.
Rahul Chahar was yet again mighty effective with the ball, and Joshi shed light on the leg-spinner’s approach here against Delhi, where he bowled a lot of leg spin. The leg-spinner finished his spell with figures of 2/16 and was a rather tough nut to crack for the Capitals.
“Bowlers need to build skill level in T20 cricket, and googly is just part of that. Obviously today, he (Chahar) bowled a lot of leg-spin, given that the pitch was assisting, and the batters were struggling to play spin.”