Navdeep Saini Reveals How He Made Light Work Of In-Form Shimron Hetmyer

Navdeep Saini, who made his debut in the third ODI game against West Indies, straightaway proved that he is here to stay in international cricket. Despite starting the journey with an ordinary ball that was smashed to the boundary by Evin Lewis, he came back strongly to dismiss Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase thus helping his side to make a comeback in the game.

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The recently-concluded series between India and West Indies lived up to the expectations as the visitors gave their fancied hosts a run for their money. Both sides displayed dominating performances in the middle to put fans on the edge of their seats throughout the series.

One such contest was the final ODI in Cuttack when the batsmen enjoyed the ball coming on to the bat nicely. However, Navdeep Saini had other thoughts in his mind, who delivered a brilliant spell with the new ball. He got Shimron Hetmyer as his maiden wicket and then rattled the defence of Roston Chase with a stunning yorker.

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I knew it wouldn’t be easy for Shimron Hetmyer to pull me – Navdeep Saini

Explaining the plan behind the set-up for Shimron Hetmyer, Navdeep Saini revealed that he got a friend, who is a hardcore cricketing fanatic and plays for Haryana. Saini always believed in the strategies of his friend Kalyan, who wrote a plan to knock out Shimron Hetmyer and Kieron Pollard. Though Navdeep Saini failed to execute it against Pollard, he got it right for Hetmyer, who walked back after getting a decent start of 37.

“When I was playing Ranji Trophy, I wasn’t thinking much about white-ball cricket. My childhood friend Mohit Kalyan (Haryana batsman) follows a lot of cricket on TV. So I called him up to know who was batting well when I received the ODI call-up. He told me about Hetmyer and (Kieron) Pollard and came up with the plan of bowling certain lengths to the West Indies batsmen,” Saini told Hindustan Times in an interview.

“Absolutely (when asked whether bowling on the body was a part of the plan)! I was aware West Indies big-hitters love room outside off-stump. Mohit and I had discussed this. I decided to bowl short and close to Hetmyer’s body, and with my pace, I knew it wouldn’t be easy to pull me from that length,” he revealed.

Watch – Roston Chase rattled by Navdeep Saini

Meanwhile, Navdeep Saini is a part of both of India’s upcoming cricketing assignments – T20Is against Sri Lanka and ODIs against Australia. The series against Sri Lanka will start on January 5th while the three-match ODI series against Australia will begin on January 14th.