Not Sran-sational, but still a firefighter for Punjab

CHENNAI : Clawing his way out of a situation when the odds are stacked against him is a trait that has kept Barinder Sran afloat, ever since he decided to trade boxing gloves for the spherical, leather-based object that India is obsessed with.To buttress this notion with facts, you don’t need to look further than three of the four outings of the left-arm speedster for Kings XI Punjab in this IPL.

When Sran went up against Chennai — his first match this season — the 25-year-old had been tonked around for 28 in his first three overs. His fourth came at a crunch phase: the 16th over of CSK’s chase, with a set-but-sore MS Dhoni up against him. Six tram-line missiles were launched, and only four runs were conceded. Though the veteran won hearts despite falling four runs short of another improbable heist, Sran had quietly won the match, even if his 0/37 indicated otherwise.

A similar narrative unfurled against Delhi this Monday. Shreyas Iyer was the man who was set, 41 runs had been pilfered from Sran in three overs, and the equation stood at 21 runs off 12 balls. After a mix of cutters and wide yorkers, four runs were doled out, with a wicket to boot. Despite Iyer’s heroics, Delhi fell short.

The Kolkata clash too saw Sran at his frugal best in the penultimate over despite being mauled for 44 runs in his first three: six runs and the wicket of an in-form Dinesh Karthik. Punjab took that tie with 15 runs to spare.  “I have been putting in a lot of work at the nets on both my pace and variations, be it wide-yorkers or cutters. Those overs were crucial for us, and (Ravichandran) Ashwin bhai was backing me to bowl to the field we had in place,” explained Sran. “He’s an astute captain, and as a bowler he understands our mindset better. I just backed myself to go with our plan, and it paid off.”

It is this spirit of bouncing back that Sran has been using to overcome injuries. The Sirsa native has been saddled with them throughout his career, as evidenced by him dropping off the radar after a promising Men in Blue stint in 2016. The next time he resurfaced for the national side was as a net bowler in Dharamsala, against Sri Lanka last year.

“I had remodelled my action a few months ago to help out with that, by opening up my front foot a bit more. Injuries have been with me since I started. Whenever I’m sidelined, my only focus is on getting the ball back in my hand.”His ambition of returning to the national fold could also help India fill their left-arm-speedster void. “There are many, but I too would love to be India’s next left-arm pacer. My focus is on putting in as much hard work so that I can return to the team in future.”
rahulravi@newindianexpress.com