Hyderabad: The Indian Premier League (IPL) is turning out to be a hotbed of opportunities for the unknown faces in Indian cricket to shine and the likes of Mayank Yadav, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi have shone with their performances. One more name was added to the list when Punjab Kings squared off against Gujarat Titans on Thursday. Shashank Singh was the batter who helped PBKS to script a successful chase of 200 runs. He played a knock of unbeaten 61 runs from 29 balls and also completed his half-century in just 23 balls.
Shashank went all guns blazing under the crunch situation and shut down all the talk about him being mistakenly brought by PBKS. The right-handed batter kept his nerves and displayed fluent strokeplay to gather praise from all sections of the cricket fraternity.
In a recently organised T20 tournament managed by DY Patil Group, Shashank was captaining the B side of the eponymous group where Shikhar Dhawan played under him. On Thursday, the roles were reversed and Shashank played a match-defining knock.
Shashank learnt tricks and trades of the sport in Mumbai under the guidance of reputed coach late Vidya Paradkar, who had taken many illustrious students under his wings, including Ajinkya Rahane and Zaheer Khan.
Shashank’s entry in the Punjab Kings’ squad for IPL 2024 was marred by controversy. At the auction table, it was a moment of absolute madness when the franchise bid for Shashank Singh but asked the auctioneer to return the player in the pot.
Singh’s name was announced for a base price of INR 20 Lakhs and PBKS raised the paddle. However, when the next player was about to come, the team owners said that they didn’t want the player but auctioneer Mallika Sagar stood her ground there is no return from the move the franchise had made.
“It was a wrong name?. You don’t want the player?” she asked.
“We are talking about Shashank Singh. But the hammer has come down. Player No. 236 and 237 both went to you.”
However, PBKS later clarified that they have bought the right Shashank Singh in the auction room.
The 32-year-old all-rounder has plied his trade for Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals. Also, he had impressed Brian Lara during his tenure with SRH. The Chattisgarh-based cricketer has scored 815 T20 runs with a strike rate of 141 so far.
He showed an impressive outing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024 recently scoring 450 runs in the competition with an average of 75 and a strike rate of 125.
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