"I hoped to play in the SRH XI much sooner than I did" - Jagadeesha Suchith [Exclusive]
Jagadeesha Suchith contributed ten wickets and 48 crucial runs in the Mumbai Indians' second title win in IPL 2015. He was there when they won their third; he was a substitute fielder at deep mid-wicket who ran out Dan Christian in a gripping, last-ball thriller against Rising Pune Supergiant.
In domestic cricket, Jagadeesha Suchith averages under 28 in all three formats with his left-arm off-spin. He has 51 wickets and three fifers in First-Class cricket, 27 wickets at an economy rate of 4.38 in List A and 51 in T20s, with best figures of 3/2. If that isn't enough, he has also scored a 15-ball fifty.
So where is Jagadeesha Suchith now? He's away from the limelight, wishing well for his international teammates and quietly putting in the hard yards to help win games for his IPL team, the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In this exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, Jagadeesha Suchith takes us through his IPL journey, his relationship with Manish Pandey, his cameo that was a silver lining in a tumultuous campaign for SRH, and much more.
Excerpts from Jagadeesha Suchith's interview with Sportskeeda
Q. You had almost a dream debut season for MI in 2015, but since then, chances in the IPL have come few and far between. What do you think is the reason for this?
Jagadeesha Suchith: Even though I got to play in IPL 2015 and did quite well, I got limited opportunities when I came back to the Karnataka side because Krishnappa Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal were there for a very long time.
And Gowtham getting picked for the Sri Lanka tour is proof of how well he has played for Karnataka in the domestic circuit and India A. I would say that most franchises, as you know, give a lot of importance to recent performances leading up to the auction. Most franchises look at the player thinking, 'Is he playing regular domestic cricket?'
I got limited opportunities for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy early on, but whenever I got one, I did reasonably well. In 2019, I played a lot of domestic cricket and got picked for Delhi Capitals. And this year as well, I played almost all the games, got picked and played again.
So how much domestic cricket you play leading up to a tournament is important for a franchise to know that you are ready to play in the XI. I think that in the three years, 2016, 17 and 18 when I didn't get to play in the IPL, a lot fewer domestic games didn't help my case at all.
Q. The first half of the IPL, as we know, wasn’t the best for SRH. What exactly went wrong?
Jagadeesha Suchith: See, in a tournament like the IPL, you can’t pinpoint one particular thing. One issue would probably be that we had a lot of overseas batsmen at the top of the order, and in the first couple of games, except Manish (Pandey), we had an inexperienced Indian middle-order.
You see the teams that were successful in Chennai were the ones that had experienced Indian batsmen in the middle order. Chennai is a spin-friendly wicket, a bit slow, and you need some experienced middle-order batsmen, which we lacked. And to add to that, the overseas batsmen also probably found it difficult to adapt right away to the slow wickets. I think that’s where we had issues at the start of the tournament.
Q. When the season was called off, how was the mood in the camp; was there a sense of relief?
Jagadeesha Suchith: No, not really. The relief was in the sense that all the teammates wanted to go back to their families and wanted to fly back safe. And at the same time, we were unsure of what was happening outside because you tend to forget that when you are playing in a bubble. The good thing is we can regroup in September and see what best we can do. A lot of players who were not in the best of form can hopefully also come back to form by then, and we can have a better second half of the season.
Q. You got your maiden SRH cap from your long-time Karnataka teammate Manish Pandey; what did he say to you in the hurdle?
Jagadeesha Suchith: As some people know, I am one of the graduates from the Karnataka Premier League, and it has helped me so much to get into the IPL. Manish gave me my KPL debut cap as well because he was my captain at Mysuru Warriors.
So, when I got my debut cap for SRH, he said:
“You have been working hard for a long period of time, and I know you are good enough to play here. You have done really well for a lot of other franchises, and it’s time for you to do even better for SRH, and I am sure you are going to do just that.”
Q. While Manish Pandey was giving you your first cap, he sat out that same game to make way for another batsman. Can you tell us how he reacted to getting dropped after a couple of bad games?
Jagadeesha Suchith: The way he works… his work ethic is outstanding. He’s very particular about his training and routines, regardless of if he’s playing or not. When he’s not playing, he works even harder, so his routine does not change.
He has been around the IPL for a very long time now, and he knows how to take things like this. I was sure that it was just a matter of time before he got back into the team. When we played against CSK in Delhi, he was the highest run-scorer for us; I think he got some 60-odd runs. That says a lot about his work ethic, even when he’s not playing.
And knowing Manish, he’s a team man; he wants everyone to do well; he always tells everyone to work in the right direction. Even when I was playing and he wasn’t, he used to come out on the field during the timeouts and between overs and tell me what I needed to do while bowling.
And also, before I went out to bat, he used to tell me to stay calm and think about the areas to target and how to get runs. He’s always someone who thinks about the team ahead of himself. As I said, his work ethic didn’t change, and he knew that it’s just a matter of time for him to come back to the team and get some runs for the SRH middle order.
Q. We also saw a major shift in SRH with regards to the captaincy. What was your and the other youngsters’ reaction to it? Did you see it coming?
Jagadeesha Suchith: Not really, because (David) Warner had led SRH to a title, and he has been one of the most successful overseas captains in the IPL. He has done so well for SRH with the bat as well as his captaincy over the years. But given the fact that this was SRH’s worst run at the start of the tournament when something like that happens to a franchise that’s so consistent and successful, you tend to see a lot of changes in terms of the playing XI.
The change of captaincy was a bit of a surprise for us, but I am sure there were a lot of reasons for the franchise to make that change. But at the end of the day, as a franchise, you and the players are supposed to stay together no matter what happens, and that’s what we did, and that’s what we are going to do hopefully in September.
Q. You batted with Kane Williamson in that excellent super-over game against Delhi. And that was such an important cameo. Can you take us through it?
Jagadeesha Suchith: I would like to say that I wasn't surprised by that innings. I was hitting the ball really well in the nets, and even at the start of the tournament, I was batting and bowling really well. I hoped to play in the XI much sooner than I did, but given the fact that I was a newcomer in the team, it takes a lot of time in getting used to the franchise. And also vice-versa - the franchise needs to think that I am one of their players. They also have to back a lot of players who didn’t get a go last season.
So, I was just waiting for my opportunity, I had a lot of plans leading up to the game. I love to watch a lot of videos of opposition batters for my bowling and also their bowlers. So, before going to bat, I knew that a lot of teams had started bowling cutters and slower bouncers because there are big boundaries square of the wicket in Chennai.
It was very hard for the batsmen to hit a six, so I planned to hit the gaps to either get a boundary or a double because I couldn’t afford dot-balls. Initially, I planned to give the strike to Kane Williamson.
Fortunately for me, there were only three fielders on the leg side, and I got a few balls on my pads at the leg-stump. And obviously, when you need 15 runs off the last over, you have no other option but to hit boundaries. I just tried to replicate what I do in practice - holding my shape, trying not to hit too hard and finding the gaps.
Q. What were the conversations with Williamson?
Jagadeesha Suchith: He’s one of the legends of the game. He spoke to me almost every ball, tried to calm me down and helped me think better so I could make the right decision on the next ball.
Q. At SRH, did you get a chance to pick bowling coach Muralitharan's brain?
Jagadeesha Suchith: Definitely, because he was born and brought up and played on wickets like these throughout his career. I have spoken a lot about this before; the first thing I wanted to do before playing a game was to interact with Murali sir and try to pick his brain and know what he used to do when he was playing.
He told me to vary my pace, which was very important on the Chennai wicket because it was gripping a bit, and anything slow was difficult to hit. So, I worked on my pace throughout my time with SRH. He kept telling me positive things and to always be on the attacking side.
Whenever I bowled in the practice games, he always asked me to have a slip or an attacking fielder to help me take wickets rather than containing runs. That’s the kind of mindset he played his cricket with, and that’s what he likes to teach us, and that helped me a lot during the course of the tournament.