'Jhye Richardson looked like a school kid to me' - Sunil Gavaskar on his first encounter with the pacer

Punjab Kings are playing their opening game of IPL 2021 against Rajasthan Royals and ahead of the clash, pacer Jhye Richardson received his debut cap. PBKS were struggling with their pace department and hence decided to rope in Richardson at a whopping amount of Rs 14 crore in the auction. KL Rahul told about his four overseas players that would play the season opener and the list included Richardson, Nicholas Pooran, Riley Meredith, and Chris Gayle.

Before the same match kicked off, former Indian cricketer and commentator Sunil Gavaskar opened up on his hilarious first encounter with the Australian pacer. Gavaskar was of the impression that he is some school-going kid as he looked that young. The Indian legend further clarified with Simon Doull who told him about the new pacer.

“I was sitting next to Jhye Richardson in the Dubai to Mumbai flight about 8-10 days ago. He looked like a school kid to me, in his shorts. I did not recognize him. The aircraft was pretty empty. He sat one row behind me because of social distancing. Simon Doull was on the flight. I said to him – you were talking to him, who was he – and he told me it’s Jhye Richardson. And I thought he was someone who had just come out of school,” said Gavaskar as quoted by HT.

Gavaskar on importance of Jhye Richardson for PBKS

Further, Gavaskar added how the presence of Meredith and Richardson will help out KL Rahul in this season of IPL. He also added that Rahul has much more experience than the new skipper of RR, Sanju Samson, ahead of their first clash of IPL 2021. PBKS are better equipped in terms of their pace attack, reckoned the 71-year-old

“But Rahul who captained Punjab last time is more experienced than Sanju Samson. If you look at his pace attack with Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith – he has a better pace attack than he had last time around. That will make the difference.

“But if he (Richardson) bowls well, and we have seen him bowl for Australia, that will be the thrust that both these bowlers (Riley Meredith and Jhye Richardson) can provide them, that will be exactly what Punjab would be looking for,” concluded Gavaskar.