XtraTime Web Desk: Though Kings XI Punjab faced a shocking defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad last night as they failed to chase down a low score of 133 runs, but their young pacer Ankit Rajpoot had a dream night with a five-wicket haul in his four overs spell which helped KXIP to restrict the home side on a low total. A very few people may know this pacer from Uttar Pradesh but the talented lad was the second highest wicket-taker of his state side in his domestic debut season in 2012-13.
In the next season, Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings picked him in the squad, but as CSK had a lot of renowned players in their squad Ankit didn’t get much chance in the playing XI. Though he got valuable tips from former Aussie pacer Andy Bichel who was the bowling coach of CSK that time.
On Thursday, the 24-year-old pacer proved he truly belonged to the dressing room, taking five important wickets against Sunrisers Hyderabad. His first scalp was home captain Kane Williamson, who is their top scorer till now. The extra bounce of Rajpoot surprised the Kiwi batsman and his attempted pull shot went straight in the hands of Ravichandran Ashwinn at mid-off. Rajput’s next scalp was Shikhar Dhawan. In his fifth over he again took the wicket of Wriddhiman Saha. His last two wickets again came in the final over of the innings when he took the wickets of Manish Pandey and Mohammad Nabi.