The mind is the hardest pitch of all, and Hyderabad’s K. Himateja had three guides to help him read it: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Wasim Jaffer and Anirudh Singh.
“Wasim sir was with us during the emerging camp. We had a chat two or three days ago also, about how to go about things, how to play on the turners and such. All those conversations have definitely helped me. Then there is Anirudh, the man who sees his game every day.
Because even when the wickets were falling, I was just looking to score, today that was very evident,.
He always told me to just look for runs no matter what situation I’m playing.
“I played in the Duleep Trophy and also featured in the Under-25 Emerging Men’s Tournament. Because i didn’t do very well in the last two innings, “I was a little worried. Because i thought I was underprepared, i tried to prepare as best as I could in the time I had, but I was definitely a little worried.
I was well prepared in terms of my mindset but I didn’t practice so much before this season,” he told The Hindu . “When I was batting, and two wickets fell, I knew in my mind that someone would partner with me,” he said, explaining how he had to resist changing plans or panicking in the heat of the moment.
Not the 100, but to get that 250-run mark for the team. So we got there; obviously my 100 will also come,” Himateja, who has stuttered in the nineties a fair few times, narrated. “Dilshan sir told me that once I get the first 30 runs, I just have to milk them.
“I just put my head down and thought about what I wanted to do. “And they were trying to bowl away from the stumps and not give me that run to get that mark. But I kept my cool. The foundations of that composure were laid months ago. His stint with Khammam Aces in the inaugural TG20 brought him under Dilshan, who was the team’s mentor. I don’t have to do anything stupid; just stick to the basics and do things right. All those conversations with him, everything aligned together, and my batting has become much more positive.”
Once the first step was done, he said there was no way I could throw away my wicket.