"I felt let down by myself" - Sheldon Jackson on his batting performance in IPL 2022
Sheldon Jackson has been scoring a truckload of runs in domestic cricket for Saurashtra over the years. He was in sensational form in white-ball tournaments like the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
In six games, Jackson scored as many as 271 runs in the tournament, at an average of 67.75 and a fantastic strike rate of 141.88. He also showed his versatility by batting in the middle-order as well as at the top.
Things were set up nicely for Sheldon Jackson to finally show his class in the IPL 2022 season for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Even chief mentor David Hussey had declared ahead of the tournament that Jackson would set the IPL on fire.
However, the 35-year-old could only muster 23 runs in the five games that he got to play in. Speaking in an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, the 35-year-old opened up about his emotions after an underwhelming IPL with the bat. He said:
"I am a very sensitive person, so my emotions are sometimes high and low. But I did get a decent amount of opportunities. I got five games out of which one I was not out. So I got 3-4 games where I actually could have set the IPL on fire or could have done a lot more than I did with the bat. So if I would have done a lot more, the entire scenario would have changed."
Sheldon Jackson believes that he let himself down with his performances as he couldn't quite pay back the faith shown in him by the management. He said:
"But that’s how the game is, everytime you will not be successful. That’s how I think. Because those are the same shots that got me tonnes and tonnes of runs. Same shots took me to the IPL and when I played the IPL, they were not giving me runs. So I felt let down by myself, that I couldn’t make the most of my opportunity."
He added:
"I worked really hard to come into the IPL, scoring runs year after year, and when you get the opportunity and something that got you success brings you down over there, you feel a little low."
Sheldon Jackson on whether he could have opened for KKR
KKR tried a number of different opening combinations in the IPL 2022 season and weren't quite as successful, finshing seventh in the table. They even tried the likes of Baba Indrajith and Sam Billings at the top. However, Sheldon Jackson, who naturally batted in the top order for Saurashtra, wasn't given a go.
However, the 35-year-old had no complaints about the same as he claimed that his role was made clear to him by the management. He stated:
"I have been with KKR since a long time and the management as well as everyone in the country know that I bat at the top-order. But I was ready to bat at whatever spot and with whatever role the team wanted me in. They trusted me with that finishing role and I thought I should focus on that rather than thinking where I should have batted."
Sheldon Jackson's IPL numbers simply don't justify how consistent he has been in domestic cricket. Hopefully, he gets another chance next season to show why he is one of the most dangerous wicketkeeper-batters in the country.