Mandar Garude shines as an all-rounder in his very 1st outing at the Malaysia Super Sixes Tournament
A game changing batsman (right-handed) and a more than handy right-arm off spinner, Mandar Garude has been playing local cricket in Mumbai for quite a few years now. Representing team WNS at the corporate level, he has given numerous performances both with the bat as well as with the ball to help his side win on numerous occasions.
But this time it was altogether a different level where his team WNS was picked by SAG India to participate in an International event like “Malaysia Super Sixes Tournament” where big professional players from different parts of the world participate including some notable names like Ajanta Mendis, Gunakeratne, Dushan Silva amongst others.
It was first time for Mandar to perform on such a big stage and he exceedingly did a great job in the tournament bagging 3 ‘man of the match’ awards in 5matches he played. Scoring well over 120 runs in 5matches (5over matches) at an average of almost 100 and scoring at a strike rate of more than 220 while remaining unbeaten 4times. What’s more he also took 6wkts with his spin. Mandar confidently played against the likes of big opponents and showed a great character at such a big stage. In fact his perfomance impressed one and all! Cricketgraph congratulates Mandar for his successful international outing and wishes him all the luck for a great cricketing year ahead.
In an exclusive interview with Cricketgraph Mandar said “It’s definitely a great experience when it comes to going international and playing in those conditions. I personally had a great time, as was able to score runs and take wickets for my team. My captain Kiran Desai backed me up and let me play my natural game. It’s difficult to absorb changes when u regularly play 20 overs or 45 overs game and suddenly going for 5 overs game, as it’s huge difference in these format. When it comes to 5 overs you need to start hitting ball right from the first ball. When I got into the crease I decided that I will play my tennis cricket game by going hard on bowlers and by attacking them, so that they can try something different and make mistake and it really worked. I got most of the runs from my reverse short. I would like to give credit to my captain Kiran Desai as well, as during entire tournament he utilised me really very well. In some matches he asked me to open the innings and in some matches I batted at no 3 or 4 and same with bowling. I was ready to play at any position as I was sure that I m going to hit the ball out of park. Overall I am happy with my and teams performance. Hope to continue this form in upcoming Kanga League Tournament.”
CRICKETGRAPH