Sagar Udeshi is one of the rising stars in Indian domestic cricket. He plays for Puducherry at the state level. Born in Mumbai, the 35-year-old is a left-handed batter and a slow left-arm spin bowler. Speaking about his numbers in domestic cricket, Sagar has played 22 first-class matches, scoring 300 runs, with his highest score being 79. He has picked up 126 wickets at an economy rate of 2.71.
Sagar Udeshi has been a part of 17 T20 matches, where he has scalped 13 wickets at an economy rate of 5.78. His economy rate suggests that the batters find it challenging to score runs off his bowling. Sagar has dismissed current Indian cricket team stars KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav in domestic matches.
Swagcricket.com caught up with Sagar Udeshi recently, and here are the excerpts of his interview.
Interview with Sagar Udeshi, domestic player of Puducherry team
Q. Hey Sagar! How have you been doing? How was the year 2021 for you?
Sagar Udeshi: Hey I have been doing good and 2021 was a good year overall playing cricket throughout the year playing domestic in India and going to UK to play club cricket.
Q. How was your experience of playing in 2021 domestic season?
Sagar Udeshi: Playing domestic is always a new challenge every year because every year you could be playing a different team as you would be in different group. Experience was really good as our team had some very good outings and there’s always pressure to perform.
Q. Puducherry team is improving gradually. Where do you see Puducherry team in the next 5 years?
Sagar Udeshi: Cricket association of Pondicherry has been doing really well since last 4 seasons and the infrastructure we are provided for practice and the ground are unbelievable and are one of the best in India. At the moment, I feel there are 6 grounds, indoor and a gym and all in the CAP campus. As a player in the setup, every thing is available what you need.
5 years down the line I think Pondicherry would be doing really good and as team, we could be champions in one of the format and all the juniors setup is also unbelievable we have players from u-19 doing good and 2 players even got selected for u-19 challenger series.
Q. You have played all 3 formats of domestic cricket. Which is the toughest format for you as a bowler and why?
Sagar Udeshi: T20 is the most toughest format to play because of the nature of the game. It’s just 20 overs and a bowler has got only 4 overs to bowl and it’s really difficult to comeback if you have a bad day and the batsman come really hard at you so you have to be really well prepared for everything.
Q. Let’s talk about Vijay Hazare Trophy. You played against Mumbai and rattled the stumps of Suryakumar Yadav. He is in top form right now. Tell us how you planned his dismissal.
Sagar Udeshi: Getting Surya out is really very delightful as he’s in top form and getting runs consistently in the IPL and for the Indian team.
Our team’s plan was just to try and get Surya out initially when he comes to bat because on any day a player like him can take the game always from you and the team’s plan was just to make him play maximum number of balls in the stumps.
Q. Veteran Paras Dogra is also a player for Puducherry. How much has his experienced helped the team?
Sagar Udeshi: Paras bhai I feel is one of the most experienced campaigner on the country in the domestic circuit, he brings a lot of positive energy to the dressing room. I have been with him since last 4 years and his dedication toward the game is unbelievable and his work ethics.
As he has played domestic cricket for such a long period and dominated he is aware of different conditions and teams. He always backs all the players and motivates every one to give 100% of whatever you are doing and then see what the result is. It’s an honor to share the dressing room with such a legend.
Q. Tell us something about your first-class experience. You have played a lot of cricket in Sri Lanka
Sagar Udeshi: Playing first class cricket in Sri Lanka lanka was the best experience for me because of the setup. The team had international players playing and there was always the hunger to perform because if you are invited by a team as an overseas professional you have to leave a mark and I felt really good that my first year I played in Sri Lanka I took 57 wickets in 8 matches and that was my debut first class season.
Q. You have dismissed some good batters in your cricketing career. Which is your all-time favorite wicket?
Sagar Udeshi: KL Rahul when CAP was playing against KSCA and it was my first live game and I dismissed KL Rahul LBW it was really a big wicket.
Q. What are your targets for 2022?
Sagar Udeshi: Keep working hard and keep playing cricket and loads of travel to different places.
