‘Nothing worse than bowling in the nets’ – Chetan Sakariya recalls James Anderson’s motivational words amid not getting chances in IPL 2022

Delhi Capitals left-arm seamer Chetan Sakariya has not played a single game in this IPL edition for the Delhi Capitals which did take a lot of experts by surprise, and he recently shared a motivational page from James Anderson’s autobiography named ‘Jimmy: MY Story’ to keep his hunger going on for the game. Sakariya made his IPL debut last season for the Rajasthan Royals and he was quite impressive straight away picking up 14 wickets in 14 games at an economy rate of 8.19.

The 24-year-old made it to the Indian squad subsequently for the Sri Lankan tour and went on to play one ODI and two T20 internationals as well. However, since then, Sakariya hasn’t had many opportunities with the Indian team and he took part in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Ranji Trophy for Saurashtra. Interestingly, Sakariya had picked up a five-wicket haul in his last List-A game while he finished with nine wickets in his last Ranji Trophy game.

Khaleel Ahmed has been preferred over Chetan Sakariya

In the mega auction, Sakariya was roped in by Delhi for INR 4.2 crores. However, Khaleel Ahmed has got the nod so far in the playing XI ahead of the former. To make sure he stays focused and to not lose hope, Sakariya shared a page from Anderson’s book where the veteran seamer has talked about how he had to handle the situation when he was benched for the entire T20 World Cup in 2010.

Here’s Chetan Sakariya’s Twitter post

Focused 🧘 Be Patience🎯 pic.twitter.com/etXdU2Kq7P

— Chetan Sakariya (@Sakariya55) April 21, 2022

“This was not a fit of pique. Painful experience has taught me there is nothing worse than bowl-ing in the nets, without a game visible on the horizon, and I just wanted to get back into some competitive action. With the Ashes coming up six months down the line, I simply wanted to keep bowling and remain in good nick, and so joining that game in Birmingham straight from the flight back to Heathrow, as I subsequently did, offered me a chance to play alongside long-standing friends, be invigorated by a change of scenery, and submerge myself in cricket once more. It definitely helped,” read a page in Anderson’s book.

Anderson mentioned that his request to return on the day of England winning the T20 World Cup final was turned down and instead he was asked to stay in the hotel to celebrate with the team. The 39-year-old explained that the toughest thing to do was to keep bowling in nets despite knowing he wouldn’t be on the side. Sakariya made a note of it certainly, and it will be interesting to see if he can find a place in the upcoming games for Delhi Capitals.