Defining roles according to nature, experience key to East Delhi's success: Himmat Singh

Setting well-defined roles for each player and making youngsters perform around a core group of five players was the key to East Delhi Riders’ success in the Delhi Premier League 2024, said the winning skipper Himmat Singh.

“I had a very good bunch and the experience was good. Everyone fulfilled their roles, all 20 players,” said Himmat Singh, the skipper of East Delhi Riders that topped the pool table before beating North Delhi Strikers (in semi-final), and South Delhi Superstarz (in the final) in the knockout stages.

“You should understand the team well. Some players you have to abuse to make them play, some others you have to joke. We were together, ate together, spent time well. Everyone is mentally well-equipped. You have to understand the nature of a player. Once you understand that, and you are already seeing the player in practice, then you have to see the pitch, air and then you calculate and take the decision [on which player to play],” said Himmat after the match.

Giving the example of Mayank Rawat, who blazed to a 13-ball unbeaten 78, Himmat said that Mayank’s role was that of a finisher.

Himmat Singh (left) and Mayank Rawat

“Mayank has a strong head. I had told him before the tournament that your role in the team is that of a finisher. You have to bear in mind that you will come into bat in the 12th over and from there out of the 48 balls, you will play 24 balls and in that you can score as much as you can. I always asked him to bowl to take wickets. He bowls quality deliveries, and does not look to defend. You don’t have to tell much to experienced players.”

Himmat gave another example, of left-arm spinner Rounak Waghela, who he entrusted to bowl the last over.

Waghela is just 16.

“I gave last over to Rounak because although he is very young, he is very mature and very smart. I had seen that quality in him before the start of the tournament,” added Himmat who had to pick between Waghela and Rawat (for his off-spin).  

“There was a right-hander and a left-hander and I was a bit confused over whether I should go with Mayank. But I thought the right-hander (Digvesh Rathi) was batting for longer. I thought he would be dangerous playing with the spin and that is why I went with the left-arm spin. The ball was slipping from his hand and falling close to the batsmen but he delivered.”

With five required off the last ball, Waghela bowled a wide and that put the pressure on the Riders.

“At that time, all I wanted to do was to make Rounak laugh so that he can calm his nerves. Didn’t think much beyond that. I have full faith in my players’ abilities. I always try to understand their abilities and use them according to their strength. Similarly, in the semis, I had faith in Harsh [Tyagi].

“With youngsters, you have to extract performances. They will play around us. We had a core of five players. We wanted the players outside that to support us. In crunch moments, we relied on core.”

Himmat expressed gratefulness to the supporting staff led by Bhaskar Pillay, who he felt supported him well.

“The supporting staff was helpful. They trusted me, never challenged me.”

Himmat, however, did say that the pitch surprised him.

“We always make plans. The pitch didn’t go according to our plan. We would have made 225 runs on this pitch.”  

Tags : Cricket, Himmat Singh, East Delhi Riders, Mayank Rawat, Delhi Premier League, Arun Jaitley Stadium