IPL 2024: 'Cricket is a game of self-belief', PBKS' Shashank Singh ...

Punjab Kings batter Shashank Singh has scored 137 runs from five matches so far this season. PTI

Shashank Singh played a pivotal role in Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) fightback against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their IPL 2024 clash on Tuesday, and it’s not just him who among the relatively new and unknown players have performed well. Shashank’s teammate Ashutosh Sharma was another example, and so was Nitish Kumar Reddy, who scored a 37-ball 64 to guide SRH to victory against PBKS.

According to Shashank, it’s the players’ self-belief and hard work in domestic cricket that help them become successful in a tournament like the IPL. “The only thing is self-belief. Like the way we play domestic cricket. Like you see SRH’s Nitish (Reddy) here. He usually scores and takes wickets in white-ball and red-ball cricket (in domestic competitions),” Shashank said after Tuesday’s match in Mullanpur.

Also read | Cricket experts praise Nitish, Shashank and Ashutosh following PBKS-SRH clash

“The way we play in domestic cricket. Nitish and Ashutosh have performed in Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Hazare and Ranji Trophy, (same for) Angkrish,” added the 32-year-old.

Shashank said that despite the players’ success in IPL, it was equally important to continue performing well in domestic cricket. “You can say these players are unknown but they are known players in the domestic circuit. They did well in the domestic circuit and their performances in IPL are a reward for that (hard work). You need to continue your domestic performance here. Cricket is a game of self-belief at this level”, continued the Chhattisgarh cricketer.

While Shashank was disappointed that PBKS lost, he still accepted the defeat but credited the way how Ashutosh Sharma played. Nitish Reddy’s knock had earlier taken SRH to 182/9, and in reply Shashank (46 off 25) and Ashutosh (33 off 15) forged a half-century stand for the seventh wicket but went in vain as they lost by two runs.

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“We lost the match by two runs but the most painful thing is to lose a match because we play to win. A defeat is a defeat whether it is by two runs or 20 runs. I must credit Ashutosh for turning the match, the way he batted in the last over. We had belief till the second-last ball that it is possible,” said Shashank.

Shashank said that match simulation during the camp ahead of the IPL helped him and Ashutosh in putting up a fight against SRH. “We did a lot of match simulation in the camp before the IPL. We (Ashutosh and I) used to shuffle between 5 and 6 in the batting order. We had been given a lot of scenarios like 60 or 70 off five overs and we chased that target a lot of times. So we always had the belief,” stated the batting all-rounder.

PBKS will next face Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Saturday.