One man’s loss is another man’s gain. On Sunday, the duel between DC’s KL Rahul and SRH’s Zeeshan Ansari proved that once again. The 33-year-old batter had missed Delhi’s opening match and had a point to prove in his maiden innings for the franchise.. and momentarily he did succeed in that too when he smashed two fours and a six upon his arrival to the crease.
Zeeshan Ansari vs KL Rahul
But his joy was short-lived as IPL debutant and a former U-19 World Cup winner, leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari removed him in an embarrassing manner. The new father was castled on a delivery that was going down the leg, and in an attempt to sweep, the ball missed Rahul’s bat by a mile.
This performance by Ansari only showed that he belongs to the big stage — IPL. Against the run of play, he went on to remove Jake Fraser-McGurk for 38 from 32 deliveries, and then Faf du Plessis for 50 from 27. Interestingly, Zeeshan Ansari was the only wicket-taker in his side, that also had the likes of Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami and even Harshal Patel.
DC Debut for Rahul, IPL Debut for Ansari
That makes this 25-year-old leg-spinner the one to watch out for in SRH’s future game for sure. Just a word on his domestic journey too, in a span of eight years, after having made his FC debut for UP in 2017, he has just played five matches where he has bagged 17 wickets. This performance of 3/42 will give a much-needed push to his stagnant career.
As for KL Rahul, with his very brief inning of 5 deliveries, he has just given a glimpse as to how he wants to approach his batting in the tournament. DC could just be on their way to an unprecedented title campaign, where he will have an imminent role to play.
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