“I would love to play for them because they have a very good fanbase” – Harsh Tyagi aims to play under MS Dhoni at CSK [Exclusive]

“I would love to play for them because they have a very good fanbase” – Harsh Tyagi aims to play under MS Dhoni at CSK [Exclusive]

Harsh Tyagi

Harsh Tyagi caught the limelight when he picked up 6 wickets for India during the summit clash of Under-19 Asia against Sri Lanka. The 22-year-old player represents Railways in the Indian domestic circuit and is also a net bowler for the Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals. He has played 55 matches across all formats since his debut in 2018.

FirstSportz caught up with Harsh Tyagi for an exclusive interview. Here are the excerpts from Harsh Tyagi’s interview:

Excerpts from Harsh Tyagi’s interview

Harsh Tyagi
Harsh Tyagi

Q. You were adjudged as the player of the match during the Under-19 Asia Cup Final against Sri Lanka in 2018. How did you feel after playing a key role for your side in the summit clash and which was your favourite wicket during the match?

That match is very memorable for me because I took 6 wickets and we had already played a series against Sri Lanka. So the tournament (Asia Cup) was memorable and the match was also memorable because winning the Man of the Match award and that too in finals is every player’s dream and representing your country and winning a cup is a much bigger dream. I think my favourite wicket was the 3rd wicket I took, who is still my friend from Sri Lanka, Nuwanidu Fernando. I dismissed him LBW by using my weapon, arm ball and that was my favourite wicket of that match.

Q. Whom do you consider as your role model?

When I started playing cricket, I didn’t think of cricket so much. I started following cricket by watching it on TV and on the Internet. I used to watch videos of Daniel Vettori. I used to watch a lot of his matches. Daniel Vettori’s bowling spells inspired me, motivated me and I learned from that.

Q. You’ve played against and with many players who have vast experience in the sport. Who has given you the best piece of advice and what was it?

During my U-19 days, Rahul Dravid sir was our coach and mentor, so he used to give advice, “if you score zero or you take zero wickets and even if you perform well like you score a hundred or take five or 10 wickets in a match still you have to learn from each and every game.” So that piece of advice that Rahul Sir gave me, like if your day is not going well or if your day is going good you need to stay calm and composed and every day is a new day and you need to learn from your mistakes.

Q. Can you tell us a few takeaways from your stint as a net bowler with the Delhi Capitals?

As a net bowler, I have learnt a lot. I have been with Delhi Capitals since the 2020 IPL season, the management has been very supportive. The thing I learnt from there was that to reach the next level it is important to push and back yourself each and every time, every match is not the same for you and every day is not the same, so how you motivate and prepare yourself is very important.

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Q. Can you share a lesser-known story from the DC dressing room?

There was one incident that was very motivational from my point of view. There was a guy who used to pick up kit bags every match. What happened is our match was about to start and just before the umpires got in, there was a bag left around, so the match was about to start and our bag was left there, the ones with the ball. So everyone were like, who will bring the bag now. So that guy ran with full effort and brought that bag back just in time. 

Ricky Ponting used to give the man of the matches to every player who performed in the match and in that game he was the guy who got the man of the match award, he was from the staff. So that incident felt motivational to me that Ricky Ponting notices all the small things. The guy from the management helped the team and he got the MOM award.

Q. Which IPL team do you want to play for & why?

I want to play under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy. If Chennai Super Kings gives me an opportunity to play, I would love to play for them because they have a very good fanbase, very good leader, and very good management. So I think CSK is the team I would like to play for.

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Note: Harsh Tyagi is exclusively represented by FairPlay Sports, a sports marketing agency with offices in Delhi, Noida, Bangalore, Baroda, Chennai and Jamshedpur.