Abu Dhabi: Tamil Nadu youngster Siddharth Manimaran, who is a part of
the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad for the upcoming IPL, has said captain Dinesh
Karthik has been very supportive in his journey.
“He is a very chilled guy. It was not at all difficult for me to approach him. He has been a massive support for me. I look up to him and every cricketer coming from any part of Tamil Nadu looks up to him as well. He has played a lot of cricket for the country,” Siddharth said in an interview on kkr.in
Siddharth – a soft spoken character off the field, but with the ball in hand, he can be quite lethal. The Tamil Nadu youngster attracted his first IPL bid this season for his brilliant run with the ball in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last year.
His slow left-arm orthodox bowling, which yielded two 4-wicket hauls to help his team reach the SMA final against Karnataka, left an impression on the KKR management to make him a part of the Knights’ family.
Siddharth said, “Honestly, I was very surprised (when I got picked in the auction). I didn’t expect it at all. All these years I have been dreaming of playing in the IPL. Playing with all the stars under a coach like Brendon McCullum, whom I have just seen on the TV, is a very special feeling.” When asked about spinners like Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav, he said, “They are hugely experienced, playing all these years in IPL and also for their respective countries. They have done really well. Obviously, I want to go and ask them if I have any questions and learn from them as much as I could.”
“I hadn’t met him before, so I didn’t know how to approach him. But when I went there, he was really approachable and I was guided well. The team was very supportive and felt like a family to be honest. I felt at home, seriously,”
Siddharth said, “I wanted to be a fast bowler. In fact, I started off as a fast bowler. One of my coaches told me that I didn’t have enough pace. He transformed me into a spinner. After that it came along well. My father didn’t really come into the picture much when it came to deciding whether I would be a bowler or batsman. He left it on the coach. I used to bat well in my childhood. But once I started taking a lot of wickets, I became more of a bowler who can bat.” He said,”My dad actually used to play in Jakarta. So, looking at him, I got the interest. I started playing there only and after a while my dad thought that it would be nice to move to India so that I could start playing professionally. Initially, just like everyone, playing cricket was just for fun and enjoyment. It’s only when I started playing for my state, it became my career path.””I have always dreamt of playing higher level of cricket and the IPL. Even when IPL started (in 2008), I was very passionate about cricket. I used to draw all the players and logos of the teams. I always wanted to be here as a player. It’s just the start and I am really grateful. I am really looking forward to the next steps now,” Siddharth said. When asked about his auction story, he said, “We had a Ranji Trophy match that day. We came back to the hotel at the end of the day and I was watching the auctions. But I didn’t watch my set of auctions as I had gone to take a bath. After getting out of the shower, I just thought of switching to a movie. I didn’t even know that my name came and I was picked by KKR. One of my teammates actually told me that I was picked.”