Owais Shah said he is pleased with his current form and wants to carry on the good show © AFP
By CricketCountry Staff
Bangalore: Apr 16, 2012
Middle-order batsman Owais Shah, who played a key role in Rajasthan Royals’ crushing 59-run win against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL 2012 match on Sunday, heaped praised on Ajinkya Rahane for his brilliant knock of 103.
Shah said after the match, “I love the calmness he bats with and the wonderful timing he has. You see a lot of talent in India with people like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, and Rahane is definitely in that league.”
“Rahane has got a lot of time when he plays and he is very good on both front and back foot. I think he has got a very bright future ahead of him,” he added.
The England cricketer said he wants to be versatile as a batsman and doesn’t want to remain confined to a certain spot in the batting order.
“I like to think of myself to be a player who can adapt to different situations. I’ve been lucky enough in my career to have batted at No.3 a lot back home in England and also bat at the end for some of the teams I’ve played for.
“I like to play both roles, which is a string to my bow, and hopefully, it helps me in getting selected in the eleven. I don’t want to pigeonhole myself as one type of batsman,” he was quoted as saying by IPLT20.com
The right-handed batsman said he is pleased with his current form and wants to carry on the good show.
“I feel I am in reasonable form, so it was nice to get up the order. We didn’t lose a wicket till halfway, so the captain decided to promote me and Brad Hodge up the order, and we did reasonably well with young Rahane timing the ball well. I was trying to play a supporting role and then eventually got into my game,” he said.
Shah informed that despite putting up a huge score of 195 for two, he warned skipper Rahul Dravid and Rajasthan bowlers for backlash.
“I personally thought that we had a very good score, but not one that made us unbeatable. I thought the batting conditions were very good and I stressed that point to Rahul [Dravid] and the bowlers,” he said.
Shah added, “I reminded them that we’ve got to change the pace and be very clever, otherwise we could easily lose the game. We definitely spoke a lot about particular plans and how we’re going to bowl, and it worked in our favour.”
