NEW DELHI: “Pressure daalte raho, chhodna mat, dominate karte raho”: Ravindra Jadeja kept reminding left-arm spinner Parth Bhut from the moment Shubman Gill walked out to bat during Punjab’s Ranji Trophy clash against Saurashtra.Punjab had no answers to Saurashtra’s spin attack and suffered a 194-run defeat inside two days on Friday. Set a stiff target of 320 on a testing surface, the visitors folded for 125 in their second innings. Gill, Punjab’s biggest hope of steering a fightback, managed just 14 off 32 balls before being dismissed. His struggles mirrored the first innings, where he was sent back for a two-ball duck.
In both innings, Gill was trapped leg-before by Bhut, who finished with a 10-wicket match haul. After returning figures of 5 for 33 in the first innings, the left-armer delivered an even more incisive spell the next day, picking up 5 for 8 from 10 overs.The spinner from Junagadh credited Jadeja’s constant guidance for his success against Gill and his Player of the Match performance.Bhut, who took up cricket idolising Jadeja, is now living a dream — sharing the field with his hero and soaking in the nuances of the game while learning the finer points of becoming a complete all-rounder.“Jaddu bhai is a legend of the game. He has played a lot of cricket and always shares his experience. Ahead of the Punjab match, he addressed us in the dressing room and said we had to dominate and play attacking cricket. ‘Attack karna hai’ — that’s all he said. When Shubman, who has also played a lot of cricket, came in to bat, Jaddu bhai told me to attack him and be aggressive, and that’s what worked for me. He always discusses match situations and guides us on how to keep a batter under pressure and how to get him out. During practice too, he tells me what kind of balls I can bowl on such wickets, what fields can be set and how to plan dismissals. Putting Gill under pressure worked for us,” an elated Bhut told TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview.
“More than the Player of the Match award, I am really happy that I could contribute to the team’s win and that we managed to beat a strong side like Punjab within two days. This victory will help us in the later stages of the tournament,” the spinner said.“When Saurashtra became champions for the first time in 2019–20, I broke into the Ranji Trophy side,” said Bhut, who has featured in 22 first-class matches and bagged 76 wickets while scoring 571 runs.How Bhut met his heroThe 27-year-old spinner hails from Junagadh and, as a child, would travel to Jamnagar whenever Ravindra Jadeja played or trained there, just to watch the India all-rounder in action.
After being aware that a young boy regularly turned up to watch him, Jadeja decided to interact with the aspiring cricketer.“One fine day, I managed to speak to him. When he got to know that I also played junior cricket, I got the chance to bowl at the senior team — that’s how it all began. He always says, ‘Keep working hard. There is no substitute for hard work. Keep working hard and it will pay off one day.’ That’s the approach he has towards cricket. Even at this age, he works extremely hard in the nets. Youngsters get tired, but he doesn’t,” Bhut said.“He is my idol. He is my hero. I took up cricket because of him. I couldn’t have asked for more than sharing the field with a legend like him,” he concluded.
