"There was a time when I had to score for Saurashtra to win" - Sheldon Jackson on people's unfair comments
Sheldon Jackson was in sensational form in domestic cricket for Saurashtra, coming into the IPL 2022 season.
With the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) not having any other experienced Indian wicketkeeper, it was clear that the 35-year-old would finally get the chance he deserved.
But in five games in IPL 2022, Jackson didn't get many balls to face and scored just 23 runs. He subsequently had to hear a few comments that he should perhaps play for KKR in a similar way to how he played for Saurashtra.
Sheldon Jackson in the last 4 matches in Syed Mushtaq Ali 2021:
62*(50)
70(40)
79*(47)
50(43)
@ShelJackson27 is one of the most consistent batsmen in domestics in all formats in India.
In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, Sheldon Jackson revealed his emotions after hearing such comments. The 35-year-old shed light on how difficult it has been for him to score runs consistently at the domestic level. He said:
"This year in the IPL I heard people from inside say, ‘yaar, tu domestic cricket mein khelta hai na vaise khel (play the way you do in domestic cricket).’ I still can’t understand this statement. These people don’t understand the pressure I have on me playing for Saurashtra now, or over the years."
Saurashtra now have a number of young stars in their batting line-up and that perhaps gives Jackson the luxury to play attacking cricket. He claimed that this wasn't the case few years ago. He added:
"Now the dynamics here are changing. There are very talented players coming up and those who are part of the system are blooming so I play a bit freely. But earlier, there was a time when I had to score for Saurashtra to win. Records say this."
Jackson continued:
"You see the centuries I have scored, they have helped the team in a positive way. So I am under more pressure here. In IPL, I don’t have that pressure because I know if I get out I have [Andre] Russell and [Pat] Cummins after me. The pressure on me over there is lesser."
At the age of 35 years, it's very unlikely that Sheldon Jackson will be able to achieve his dream of playing for India.
However, he will surely go down as one of the domestic greats and an all-time hero for Saurashtra. #VijayHazareTrophy
Don’t know why people don’t count us as a white-ball team: Sheldon Jackson on Saurashtra's success
Saurashtra made it to the semifinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy this season and have been highly competitive in the past few years in white-ball cricket. Captain Jaydev Unadkat and many others have been quite vocal about how Saurashtra have been a bit underestimated as a white-ball team.
Sheldon Jackson had a similar view and reminded the team's critics of their 2007-08 Vijay Hazare Trophy triumph. He stated:
"Previously we didn’t win a lot of white-ball matches. But since we have been winning, the belief has started to come into the system and the players."
Jackson added:
"Whoever says that we are not a white-ball team have completely forgotten that under Jaydev Shah’s captaincy, we have won the Vijay Hazare Trophy and we reached the finals where we lost against Karnataka."
Sheldon Jackson opined that although Saurashtra haven't won many titles of late, they have consistently gone deep into tournaments. He added:
"We haven’t won many titles, but we have been among the top teams. So I don’t know why people don’t count us as a white-ball team. In the past 5-6 years, most of the times we have qualified for the knockouts. If you can reach that level with the quality of first-class cricket in our country, that means you have to be a very good team to reach there consistently."
Saurashtra now have a great mix of youth and experience and it shouldn't raise many eyebrows if they win a domestic white-ball title in the coming years.