Every conversation in the universe on Friday seemed to be about SKY’s century. However, Akash Madhwal, with wickets of GT openers Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha and a dangerous Killer Miller later in the innings, was just as instrumental in MI’s victory over the defending champions.

The right-arm fast bowler spoke to the media after the match and shed some light on playing conditions and of course, about bowling to SKY in the nets.

“Our plan was pretty simple against Titans. We bowled with the intention of choking them for runs at the start. So I stuck to my strength which is bowling hard lengths throughout my spell of four overs,” Madwal said in the post-match press conference.

He in fact played the first few matches as a death overs specialist but was entrusted with the new ball by our skipper on Friday (May 12).

“My role before this match was to bowl the end overs but Rohit bhaiya informed me a day before the match that I will be bowling in the powerplay overs after seeing me in the nets. He asked me to be ready and when the opportunity arrived, thankfully, I was ready to grab it.”

“It wasn’t easy to bowl slower balls under such conditions so we stuck to the basics and thankfully, executed them pretty well.”

Speaking about SKY and his jaw-dropping shots, Akash said that he is just the kind of batter who is difficult to bowl to even in practice matches and nets.

“Bowling to him is very difficult. I have bowled to pretty good batters but SKY happens to be someone extraordinary.

“The shots he practices in the nets come off as it is when he plays them on the field. So it is very difficult to bowl to him. Even in the practice matches, he pulls off these kinds of shots out of nowhere. The best thing about these shots as a bowler during practice matches is that they seem gorgeous. Haven’t seen anyone bat like him yet.”

Right then, after that great win over the defending champions, we travel to Lucknow to play LSG in a crucial encounter on Tuesday, May 16, before returning home for our final game against SRH at home. Time to make the playoff spot ours!