IPL: Sandeep Sharma On The Fast Lane To Recognition

New Delhi: While all the early spotlight of Kings XI Punjab's success story in IPL 7 was hogged duly by the batsmen, Glenn Maxwell in particular, the bowlers too have come to the party for the Mohali-based franchise. KXIP heads home after an eventful UAE leg during which they were unbeaten, winning all five matches, and it is not just because of the big-hitting Maxwell, but a major contribution to the streak has been provided by the 20-year-old medium pacer Sandeep Sharma.

With two back-to-back Man-of-the-Match awards, the Punjab pacer is very quickly becoming one of the vital cogs of this KXIP team, and this after not being picked for the first two games. Delhi medium-pacer Parvinder Awana was the original choice, but after he leaked75 runs in seven overs from the first two games, Sandeep got his chance and he seized the opportunity with both hands.

He followed up his match winning 4-1-21-3 against Kolkata Knight Riders two nights ago with an even better figures of 3-1-15-3 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Dubai on Monday. A swing bowler by trade, Sandeep is not the typical tall and strapping fast bowler one would associate with Punjab, but the hunger for doing well and the confidence is exudes is definitely very Punjabi.

Against KKR, Sandeep got the better of a struggling Gautam Gambhir and an in-form Manish Pandey with his swing. While Pandey got a sharp indipper off a good length area, Gambhir could not cover for the away swing hitting the length ball straight to mid-off. On Monday too, against the marauding Chris Gayle, the 20-year-old did not shy away from bowling the ball up and he reaped the rewards when the ball swung away from the bat of the big West Indian and crashed on to the stumps.

Kohli too was undone in a similar fashion to Pandey with the RCB skipper not able to connect to a sharp inswinger. Sandeep knows his strengths and to get his captain's full support has been the secret of Sandeep's success. "I can swing the ball very well. I know that and Bailey [George] is showing full faith in me," Sandeep had said after the KKR match and during the post-match presentation after RCB game too, Sandeep has nothing new to say only adding that he can swing the ball both ways.

A mid 130-135 kmph bowler, Sandeep is not express pace and he has always stressed on the fact that he will not comprise on his swing in order to up his pace. He said this after the India Under-23 team lifted the Asia Cup in 2013. Sandeep was part of the India squad taking seven wickets from four matches.

Sandeep was also part of two India under-19 World Cup squads - 2010 and victorious 2012. While in 2010, the very young 16-year-old Sandeep failed to make an impression, in 2012, under the leadership of Unmukt Chand, he charted a path of his own taking 4 for 54 in the final against Australia and ended the tournament with 12 scalps.

Punjab Ranji call-up beckoned and amongst the established names like Siddharth Kaul and Manpreet Gony the talented Sharma was at his best. With 39 and 41 wickets respectively in the previous two Ranji seasons there is not doubt in the 20-year-old calibre and now with stellar performances against the world's best in the grand IPL stage, the medium-pacer has surely caught everyone's eyes.

During his debut IPL season in 2013 with KXIP, Sandeep played just four games and returned with eights wickets including the likes of Kieron Pollard, Mahela Jayawardene, David Warner and Cameron White. This year, he has done even better and has helped his team win matches. While the credit for the first three victories of KXIP goes to the big-hitting Maxwell, Sharma has stepped up to the plate when the batting failed and with the IPL 7 returning to familiar territories, Sandeep will be all set and raring to show what he is made of at home.