My best spell, says Utkarsh after six-wicket haul against TN

Off-spinner Utkarsh Singh's pace variation leads to his best-ever five-wicket haul against Tamil Nadu in Jamshedpur.

Off-spinner Utkarsh Singh rated his spell against Tamil Nadu on Thursday (six for 30) as his best ever.

“I think this ranks as number one. Because, this is the quickest five-wicket haul that I’ve taken. And of course, when you don’t have to bowl as many overs to take a five-wicket haul, you feel better,” the Jharkhand spinner said after the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group D match against Tamil Nadu.

Utkarsh used pace variation to his advantage. “It (the wicket) was two-paced. But because it was also turning, I think that played to our benefit.”

“Before me, two spinners (his teammates) had already bowled. And I had seen that they had bowled a little faster, because of which they didn’t get as much from the wicket. So, I started off bowling a little slower. And I realised immediately that it’s only when you are bowling slow that you were getting the turn. The faster balls were going straighter. So, I used the straighter balls to just distract the batters. Pace variation is what really determines whether it will go straight or not,” he said.