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Rajasthan Royals (RR) pacer Sandeep Sharma’s newborn daughter was among those who ‘followed the action’ in match number 17 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday, April 12.
Rajasthan beat the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by three runs in yet another last-over finish in the ongoing IPL. RR batted first and posted 175/8 on the board. In response, Chennai were restricted to 172/6.
CSK needed 21 runs off the last over bowled by Sharma. The pacer began nervously with a couple of wides and was then launched for two sixes by MS Dhoni. The bowler, however, regained his composure and did not concede any other boundaries in the remaining balls, thus ensuring a memorable victory for the Rajasthan Royals.
A video has now gone viral on social media in which Sharma’s newborn daughter is seen watching him during the match on TV. The clip was shared with the caption:
“When she sees her daddy on TV. Daddy’s Girl.”
The cricketer also reposted the video on his official Twitter handle with a red heart emoji.
Following the conclusion of the pulsating clash, Sharma also took to Twitter to hail Chennai Super Kings captain Dhoni, who led CSK in the IPL for the 200th time on Wednesday. He posted:
“Congratulations @msdhoni paji for the 200 IPL matches. An honour to share the field and bowl to him. Forever grateful. #dreamcometrue.”
Dhoni slammed an unbeaten 32 off 17 balls, with one four and three sixes, to give Rajasthan a scare towards the end of the match.
“I wanted to deliver yorkers” - Sandeep Sharma
Speaking after ensuring his team’s victory in the game against CSK, Sharma revealed that his plan was to bowl yorkers in the high-pressure last over. He stated:
“I wanted to deliver yorkers in the last over. I was bowling good yorkers in the nets. The leg-side was big, but I missed my mark and bowled a couple of low full-tosses and both went for sixes. Then I changed my angle and it worked. I bowled over the wicket to Jadeja and I wanted to keep it away from his reach.”
The 29-year-old medium pacer went unsold at the IPL 2023 auction. He was later picked up by RR as a replacement for the injured Prasidh Krishna at his base price of ₹50 lakh.
