Shahrukh Khan reminds us of a young Kieron Pollard when he had come into the IPL: Virender Sehwag

Though the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was postponed after hosting just 29 matches, the fans were entertained with some jaw-dropping performances by the batters. In the 29 matches played, as many as three batters managed to touch the illustrious 100-run mark. The elite list includes Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson, RR opening batter Jos Buttler, and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) opening batsman Devdutt Padikkal.

Former Indian opening batsman Virender Sehwag backed another player to smash a ton in IPL soon. Sehwag seemed highly impressed with Punjab Kings (PBKS) middle-order batsman Shahrukh Khan as he lavished a lot of praises on the young gun. The veteran compared Khan with the likes of the West Indies explosive power-hitter Kieron Pollard saying that Shahrukh has the same ability to hit big sixes.

“He reminds us of a young Pollard when he had just come into the IPL. Everyone was running after him because he could just stand and hit sixes off bowlers. Shahrukh has the same quality. Although he has played those little innings and hasn’t played a big knock. But the lower you bat in the line-up, there’s only so much he can do,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.

Those who don’t think about the previous ball, have a higher success rate: Virender Sehwag

Shahrukh didn’t experience an ideal outing in the now-suspended tournament as he registered scores of 6*, 47, 15*, 22, 13, 0, and 4, across seven innings. Though the 25-year-old got good starts in most of the matches, he failed to convert it into something substantial. Speaking about the same, Sehwag asserted that Khan couldn’t play a big knock as he came to bat in the lower middle-order.

Further, the veteran claimed that if given a chance in the top-order, the Tamil Nadu batsman can do a lot of damage and will also have a genuine chance to score a century. Sehwag added that Shahrukh is the kind of player who doesn’t think about the previous ball and such players have a greater chance to succeed. 

“If he can be given a chance to bat higher, the day he clicks, he could even hit a century. He is the kind of player for whom it doesn’t matter what happened to the previous ball. Many batsmen think ‘Oh, I got beaten, this one turned’. Those who don’t think about the previous ball, have a higher success rate,” Sehwag explained.