P. Prasanth made a great comeback with his remarkable bowling as he led Kerala to a memorable vic tory against Himachal Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy match at Thalassery 'The match was a memorable one for me but now I need to focus on future fixtures'
Left out for two con secutive Ranji Trophy matches, left-arm orthodox spinner P . Prasanth had only one dream -to make comeback with a bang.
He did it in style against Group 'C' toppers Himachal Pradesh plucking nine wickets in two innings and gifting a memorable victory for Kerala at Thalassery .
Though the southpaw, a good batsman too, hit a crucial 68 runs against Andhra in the first home match, he was ineffective with the bowling and lost his place in the next two matches.
However, a determined effort and hard work paid off and he found his feet on a turning track. He pulled off with a career best figure of 7/54 in the first innings and took two wickets, that of Himachal Pradesh captain Rishi Dhawan and the last man Vishal Bhatia, in Kerala's 61run win on Sunday .
“It was very depressing not to play consecutively for two matches and it triggered off the burning desire to regain my lost form in bowling. I was determined to win my place back in the team. I am happy now. Now, I am optimistic about keeping up the form through the tournament,“ said a jubilant Prasanth. “Of course it was tough. After the Tripura match, we had about two weeks of rest. I went to my coach Biju George in Thiruvananthapuram and his tips were really useful. Sanju V . Samson and I practiced a lot and it helped build my confidence,“ he explained.
“Moreover, Chandrakant Pandit (former Indian wicketkeeper) gave useful tips just before the match. He asked Vinoop, Shahid and me to bowl at the nets and instructed us to vary the pace which really worked for me to scalp Himachal Pradesh's captain Rishi Dhawan's wicket.“
The player, who played for Sunrisers Hyderabad team in the IPL, does not want to be carried away with the performance. “I will continue to practice. The match was a memorable one for me but now I need to focus on future fixtures. We are taking on Maharashtra at the same venue and I have taken it as a challenge to repeat the performance!“ said the confident spinner.
