Former West Indies greats Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo extended words of encouragement to U-19 prodigy Kwena Maphaka, urging him to keep his chin up after the youngster conceded 66 runs in his allotted overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Wednesday.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya brought Maphaka into the side in place of Luke Wood to make his IPL debut, one of the youngest in the tournament’s history at the age of 17.
Hailing from the illustrious ranks of U19 cricket for South Africa, where he had earned the Player of the Tournament title earlier in the year, Maphaka was slaughtered by the SRH batters and conceded 66 runs in his allotted four-over quota in his debut match against SRH.
Maphaka's figures etched a tough statistic, marking it as one of the joint-worst performances by an overseas player in the history of the tournament. But MI batting coach Pollard and Bravo throws support to the youngster with their kind words after his tough outing against SRH.
"Keep your head up Champ! Kwena Maphaka I’m sure you will definitely bounce back and don’t let this one-off game make you start to doubt yourself, it’s a great challenge for you and you will only get better as the tournament goes on!" Bravo said posted on Instagram.
MI batting coach, Pollard echoed similar sentiments, emphasising Maphaka's potential despite the tough initiation into IPL cricket.
"Head up young man, you have greater things to achieve. I’m sure your family, friends loved ones are very proud of you. tough first day at the office but loved how you kept coming,” said Pollard in his Instagram post.
Sizzling half-centuries from Heinrich Klassen, Abhishek Sharma, and Travis Head helped Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Mumbai Indians by 31 runs.
Sunrisers' batters unleashed an absolute batting massacre on MI’s bowlers and rewrote the record books on a batting belter. By posting 277 for three, SRH now have the highest team score in the history of the IPL, surpassing Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) 263-5 from the 2013 season.
MI will next face Rajasthan Royals on 1 April at Wankhede Stadium.
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