Rajasthan Royals’ seasoned campaigner Trent Boult on Sunday picked Riyan Parag and Nandre Burger as the two players in his side who would have a key role to play in the ongoing IPL season for the 2008 winners. With two consecutive wins in the bag, the Sanju Samson-led side will take on a struggling Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday looking to build on their momentum. With knocks of 43 and 84 not out, Parag has showed his penchant for accumulating runs at a fast clip, signalling a heavy shift from someone who would struggle to harness his talent to one who seems to have come of age.
On the other hand, the young left-arm South African quick Burger has flourished sharing the new ball with Boult, grabbing three wickets so far to make a dent on his IPL debut.
“The first experience I had with him (Parag) was (at) a warm-up game here in the bubble when the IPL was based in Mumbai, a couple of years ago. He got 85 off probably 30 balls and I just thought he was the most amazing player,” Boult recalled while talking to the media ahead of Royals’ training session.
“Obviously, everyone is very happy to see him have some success early in the tournament this year. He’s always been pinned as an exciting player to watch, so of course, it’s always very satisfying to see a guy go out and his game come off,” he said.
“One hundred per cent he’s got a huge role to play for us in this tournament,” Boult added.
Boult praised Burger for showing no struggles while playing a challenging white-ball tournament such as the IPL without much experience.
“Nandre is a guy that I’ve only just met, but bowls with good pace, good skills and comes from South Africa where conditions are very different,” Boult said.
“He’s brought his game in nicely and delivered very nicely for us so far, so another guy who should play a huge role in our tournament,” he added.
Coming off a successful Test series against England wherein he smacked more than 700 runs, Yashasvi Jaiswal is yet to make his presence felt in this IPL. But Boult, on his part, was full of praise for his young teammate.
“(He is) a phenomenal player. Obviously (I have) played with him for a couple of years. I don’t want to say last year was his breakout season but he’s had brilliant 15-or-so months,” Boult said.
“The guy is hungry for runs; he’s desperate to get better. You can see it from the way he trains. He takes that game from the nets straight into the middle. There’s no wonder why he is one of India’s up-and-coming talents with the bat. A very exciting future (is) ahead for him,” Boult added.
Boult, however, declined any suggestions that Rajasthan Royals are concerned with the form of opening batter Jos Buttler, who has had his struggle for runs of late.
“Jos Butler is a player whose record speaks for itself. You can’t keep (scoring) runs every day but I know he’s very eager to make a contribution and get his tournament underway. I don’t think we have anything to worry about there,” Boult said.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians’ senior spin bowler Piyush Chawla confirmed that the five-time champions are still waiting to hear from the National Cricket Academy (NCA) over the status of world No 1 T20 batter Suryakumar Yadav.
Suryakumar has been sidelined since January this year as he has been stationed at NCA in Bengaluru while he recovers from injuries to his ankle and groin.
“NCA still has to look after that and coaches know more about it rather than us players,” Chawla replied when asked about Suryakumar’s progress.
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