Anil Kumble praises Shahrukh Khan, says he reminds him of Kieron Pollard
Shahrukh Khan
|| India Correspondent ||
The Head Coach of Punjab Kings, Anil Kumble has recently heaped praises for the hitting and destructive ability of their new import, Shahrukh Khan and compared him to the swashbuckling player Kieron Pollard.
However, the franchise bought the middle-order batsman for a whopping sum of INR 5.25 crore at the mini-auction in Chennai in February as well. He was in great form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy where he had a strike rate of 220 and did well in the Tamil Nadu Premier League too.
“He reminds me a bit of Pollard actually. When I was with Mumbai Indians, Pollard in the nets was dangerous. I used to bowl a bit (in the nets), and the first thing I used to tell him was not to hit straight. Here I’m not even trying. I’m a lot older now, and the body doesn’t take the bowling anymore. So, I’m not going to bowl at Shahrukh, for sure”.
On the other hand, Khan said that he was happy as well as surprised that there was a bidding war for him at the auction.
“The auction started at around 3 PM I guess, and we were practising at the Holkar Stadium, obviously I had to bat and bowl a bit. So I told our physio that ‘please let me know when my name comes up. I’ll take a break and come and see the auction.’ Luckily my name didn’t come up, and it didn’t bother my batting much. Right after we finished practice and we hopped onto the bus, I still remember sitting on the first seat and my name came up. My heart started pumping, but I didn’t expect it to rise as much as it did,” added Shahrukh Khan.
“Being amongst such stalwarts of cricket, it feels amazing to be here and the inputs have been great. I have been having a lot of conversations with everyone around here, getting to learn a lot as well,” concluded Shahrukh Khan.
