Delhi Capitals’ fast bowler Tushar Deshpande thanked his parents and his grandmother for their efforts and support for him after he made his debut in the Indian Premier League (IPL) against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday, 14 October.
In a video uploaded by Delhi Capitals, Deshpande said (in his native language Marathi) that it took time for it to sink in for him to play his first game in the IPL, bowl the last over and that feeling will remain with him for a lifetime.
The 25-year-old pacer, who made his debut for Mumbai in the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy season, got picked in the last year’s IPL auction by the Delhi Capitals after he was named in the India Blue squad for the 2019-20 Duleep Trophy in August 2019.
Replacing Harshal Patel in the DC’s playing XI on Wednesday, Deshpande didn’t have a great start as he went for 11 runs in his first over bowling to the England duo of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler.
Deshpande came back in the 11th over of the Royals’ innings and scalped the big wicket of Ben Stokes, which according to stand-in captain Shikhar Dhawan, was the gamechanger for them as he deceived the southpaw with an off-cutter. He then came back to bowl his last over in the final over of the innings when RR required 22 runs. He held his nerve, took his second wicket of the match and took his side to victory by giving away just 8 runs in that over.
Lastly, he said that he wanted to give the best for the team and will try and improve in further games and keep making his family proud, on the way to fulfilling his dream of playing for India.
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