Mohit Redkar was pumped up after he claimed two wickets in three balls in the 79th over of Tamil Nadu’s first innings on the second day of the fifth-round Group-C match at the Goa Cricket Association (GCA) Academy ground here on Saturday.
There were wild cheers from the rest of the Goa squad and some support staff seated outside the dressing room.
He struck a starman-like pose in their direction.
He had four wickets and it seemed every onlooker was willing him to get his fifth. Post-tea, the uneven bounce and sharp turn made it a good day to be a spinner. So, it was a “If not now, then when” situation.
He did get to his third first-class fifer when he had Vijay Shankar caught at deep square leg in the 91st over to wrap up Tamil Nadu’s innings.
Speaking after the day’s play, he said: “Actually, in the morning, there was not much turn, and the ball was coming on to the bat very well.
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“After tea break, we just tried and bowled at the stumps. And we were getting some help from both the ends. There was some turn, the ball was keeping low, there was bounce; so, we just tried to keep everything simple.
“We kept a field which was safe and attacking as well. It was a good wicket to bowl. It was fun bowling!”
Redkar gives credit to Australian off spinner Nathan Lyon for improvement in his bowling. “I had watched a video of Nathan Lyon once. From that, I just changed a bit of my loading. So, yes, that helps me a lot when I especially bowl to a right-hander. Because of that, my accuracy has improved,” he said.
He says he takes a lot of inputs from his captain and left-arm spinner Darshan Misal. “Whenever I don’t get wickets and become frustrated, he calms me down. He understands me very well.”
The 23-year-old, who has been to IPL teams’ trials and was last year called up as a reserve player for the India-A squad, fancies himself as a bowling all-rounder. “I think it (batting) is very important. Because, it’s very handy when a spinner bats; like, how India team has (Ravichandran) Ashwin, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja - they all bat. Those runs you score down the order are very crucial for the team.,” he said.
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