A spell that read 4-0-25-1. Given the fact that almost more than 2 overs were bowled at the two of the top batsmen in the world, Nepal’s Sandeep Lamichhane will take that performance any given day in his stride as he made an impressive debut in the Indian Premier League for Delhi Daredevils against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Ferozshah Kotla in New Delhi.
There were two aspects to his spell which he bowled against RCB. For one, he didn’t give away too many lose deliveries to both Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, who managed few big shots against him but mostly were content in picking him up for singles. The other aspect was that while his spell was the most economical among all the Delhi bowlers, it lacked penetration and didn’t trouble the two batsmen much as they played each delivery to its merit and scored of them.
Yes, there was a moment when a de Villiers shot just about made it across the boundary ropes for a six and could easily have been a catch on bigger grounds, but it was rather the urgency in the batting that brought about the shot and not due to something different bowled by Sandeep.
While his first spell of 2 overs yielded only 7 runs including the his maiden IPL wicket, that of Parthiv Patel, the next 2 overs were taken for 18 runs. Still decent returns for a 17-year old youngster on the biggest stage of his career so far.
Congratulation Sandeep Lamichhane for your first wicket in the IPL! We are proud of you! pic.twitter.com/Oqojh1Ubkw
— ram kumar thapa (@malekhu24) May 12, 2018
Delhi Daredevils coach Ricky Ponting had said earlier that Sandeep is a “Work in Progress” and his performance against Kohli and de Villiers should give the team management enough confidence to play him in their final two matches in the 2018 VIVO IPL season.
