Published: Dec 10, 2019, 12:38 AM (IST)
Edited: Dec 10, 2019, 11:28 AM (IST)
After an impactful performance against India in the second T20I on Sunday, Hayden Walsh Jr. is confident that he will now be able to carve an identity of his own and fans won’t associate his name with former West Indies legend Courtney Walsh. ‘People, my father is not Courtney Walsh,’ is what Walsh Jr. has to keep reminding anyone who thinks that he is a progeny of one of fast bowling great.
However, the leg-spinner did just about enough with the ball in Thiruvananthapuram to make people remember him for his deceptive googlies and not discuss the lethal bouncers.
“I was playing in the Cananda T20 league and someone called me Courtney Walsh (laughs). So yeah…People my father is not Courtney Walsh. But I guess now they will now find out who I am and who is my father,” Walsh, who had figures of 2/28, including wickets of Shivam Dube and Shreyas Iyer said after the match.
He foxed a rampaging Dube with a loopy googly outside the off-stump, a trait he has developed bowling to southpaws like Evin Lewis and Nicholas Pooran.
“Performing this way in front 40,000 people is an amazing feeling. You always want to do well and when you get the job done and the team wins… well that makes it extra-special! I always put the team first”
Hayden Walsh jr.#MenInMaroon #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/U6SFeET4X0
Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) December 8, 2019
“I was bowling a lot to Evin (Lewis) and Nicholas (Pooran) in the nets. I was a bit confident coming in to bowl to him (Dube),” Walsh said.
The 27-year-old was visibly elated as he is finally finding his feet in international cricket. “Yeah, it has been like a roller-coaster ride for me. As you can see, I have been working hard trying to find my way to the top into international cricket. Just to be here and perform in a game is just. I am over the moon,” he added.
He credited his consistent show in the Caribbean Premier League as one of the reasons for his success.
“I did well in the Caribbean Premier League and it obviously caught the selectors’ eye. I bowled a lot in the nets and it helped me here,” Walsh said.
He wouldn’t mind IPL scouts taking a note of his performances but the primary goal now will be to win the series. “Yeah well, the main thing is more to win the series. The goal is just winning this series and to help the team do their best.”
To a question if winning the toss was crucial for the Windies, Walsh replied: “Yeah, I think the toss as you saw in Hyderabad, it was very important because of the dew factor. I don’t think dew was much of a factor tonight.
“But knowing that we were going to bowl first and we have such a strong bowling team. Once we do well, we would be able to restrict them to a good total.”
