Leg-break bowler Karn Sharma and batsman Karun Nair, from two different teams, were making a comeback of sorts in their own way when faced Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Sunday.
And both excelled for their teams — Karn picking the Player of the Match award for his 3-36 as Mumbai beat the hosts by 12 runs while Nair’s valiant 89 off 40 balls went in vain.
Karn, 37, has made a return to MI this season after stints with Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings. “It feels good to return to MI after five-six years. I just felt that I would like to continue from where I had left in 2017,” said Karn, who picked up key wickets of DC’s Abhishek Porel, KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs.
“When the DC batters were going 10-11 runs per over, my role was to take wickets in between. For me and [fellow spinner] Mitchell Santner it was about taking wickets. The is such a tournament that you can’t be sure when you’ll be in the playing XI or 12, but you have to be ready whenever you get the chance. At the end of the day, team should win. We had lost our last two games closely. It’s the two points that are most important. When I wake up in the morning, I tell myself that it’s a new day and new opportunities will come,” added Karn.
Meanwhile, Nair, who has had a successful domestic season before this IPL, felt his knock made no difference since DC lost the match. “We always play to win, so I’m disappointed. For me, it was important that the team win. It’s no use talking about my knock. I played well but couldn’t finish the match. We lost wickets at regular intervals so it became difficult at the end of the innings. They [MI] bowled well, put us under pressure and we lost wickets,” said Nair.
The India discard added that he was not looking too far ahead of a possible recall to the national team for the forthcoming England series, but was instead focused on one match at a time in the IPL. “I felt confident and ready to play in the IPL, so it was all about preparing the way I’ve been doing throughout the season and waiting for my chance. At present, I’m only thinking about this tournament. It’s important for me to fully utilise whatever opportunity I get here,” concluded Nair.