With Mumbai cricketer Prashant Solanki as a net bowler for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 2nd half of IPL 2021, the team management considered the youngster had the good talent to be picked in the main team.
So in the TATA IPL 2022 mega auction, CSK shelled out INR 1.2 crore to ensure Solanki’s services. For any youngster, mainly a spinner, it is a dream to be bowling with a legend like MS Dhoni, keeping back the stumps.
Indian champions like Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have been completely vocal about how Dhoni’s advice from behind the stumps has greatly enhanced them as spinners.
Prashant Solanki also had the same experience in his debut season for Chennai Super Kings(CSK). The Chennai captain constantly encouraged him from behind the stumps and gave him some important tips for victory in T20 cricket.
In an exclusive chat with Social media, Solanki described how Dhoni supports him in keeping his game simple and not getting nervous about the big occasion. He said:
“Mahi bhai keeps things very simple. Whether you’re bowling leg-spin, googly or top-spin, you are bowling well if you’re not giving runs. He had given us instructions that we have to bowl dot balls because that creates pressure in T20 cricket.”
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Prashant Solanki on how MS Dhoni supported him bag his maiden IPL wicket
However, Solanki went wicketless on his IPL debut, he did pick up a couple of essential scalps against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) that supported his team’s fight till the end.
RR were cruising at one point with young Yashasvi Jaiswal going all guns blazing. He scored Solanki for a six, and the pressure was on the leg-spinner to ensure a comeback.
But the 22-year-old showed how Dhoni recommended some tweaks from behind the stumps that support him getting Jaiswal as his maiden IPL wicket. He said:
“In the second game, I came in to bowl a bit late because we didn’t have a big total and he was shuffling the bowlers around. I was hit for a six off my first ball. Then he (Dhoni) gave me an indication that I have to pull my length back and keep it a little shorter. Let him play strokes on the bigger end. Then I was successful.”
Maiden IPL wicket for Prashant Solanki. 👍 👍
A fine catch from Matheesha Pathirana in the deep. 👌 👌
Yashasvi Jaiswal gets out for 59.
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/ExR7mrzvFI#TATAIPL | #RRvCSK | @ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/QF7t8hujm5
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 20, 2022
Dhoni once again supports Prashant Solanki dismissing another southpaw in the form of the sequence Shimron Hetmyer. On this, the leg-spinner said:
“He (Hetmyer) hit me for a boundary and then Mahi bhai indicated me once again to use the bigger side of the ground. I bowled the top spinner on his legs and he miscued it and was out on deep mid-wicket.”
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Despite the sample size of the 2-matches being quite small, Solanki, who is managed by 5W1H, has shown sufficient promise to remain one of the mainstays of CSK’s upcoming bowling attack.
Also, read- “It’s a massive 2-matches for Zak Crawley” – Nasser Hussain on the future series against New Zealand