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Cuttack, March 26: If Orissa skipper, Biplab Samantray had gambled and thrown the ball to young turk, Pratik Das in their opening match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy here Wednesday, it has proved to be invaluable.
Pratik took only one wicket against Tripura, but impressed Biplab enough to try the gamble again against Asaam here Thursday. And Pratik responded to his skipper’s call with fifer.
“Yes it is true that I had never tried my hand at the nets before the tourney. It was a spontaneous decision by the captain, which paid off,” said the 21-year-old short-statured batsman who can now be called an all-rounder.
Asked whether he would now shift his attention to bowling after being successful with the Kookaburra, Pratik was quick in his reply, “I am specialist batsman and as that is my forte, I will continue concentrating on that. But I will be happy to help my team with the ball whenever I am needed.”
Pratik stated bowling within his limitations has helped him. “I tried to hit the right areas and wanted to maintain a steady line and length. That did the batsmen in as they went for the slog,” he pointed out.
