Sandeep all praise for Sehwag

Sandeep Sharma celebrates after taking wicket of Virat Kohli.

On cloud nine after his success against top batsmen such as Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, Kings XI Punjab’s young medium-pacer Sandeep Sharma has credited Virender Sehwag for helping him become a better cricketer and described him as a “gem of a person”.

“Viru pa is an amazing person! In the nets, we inform the batsman of our hypothetical field and bowl to them. Sometimes, when I don’t bowl to my field or do something wrong and Viru pa happens to see it, he stops his batting and comes to talk to me. He tells me exactly where I went wrong and goes out of his way to help me become a better cricketer,” Sandeep was quoted as saying by the IPL official website.

“He is really a gem of a person. I am so lucky to be playing in Kings XI Punjab this year with Viru

pa in my team. He has been my favourite batsman since I was a kid and now I get to play alongside him and learn from him,” he said.

On Laxmipathy Balaji’s inputs, Sandeep said, “Bala

paaji has been really helpful when it comes to preparing me for situations where I might get hit for runs and will have to maintain my cool.

“This is his seventh IPL and he has faced a lot of difficult situations. Talking to him about it will keep me better mentally and physically equipped to face such situations.”

Sandeep said it was Virat Kohli and South Africa’s A.B. de Villiers who were the most difficult RCB batsmen to bowl at.

“Virat with the new ball and de Villiers with the old (are the two more difficult to bowl to). Virat has a very good technique to play the new ball and batting one-down for India, he has the experience of handling some of the best new ball bowlers in the world,” he said.

“de Villiers, on the other hand, is a master at plundering runs in the death overs. He is very unpredictable and you can never tell where he is going to hit you next,” said Sandeep.