Deepak Hooda has been praised for his growth and consistency in the game by former India fielding coach R Sridhar.
Hooda will also become a permanent member of India’s white-ball setup in the near future, according to him.
As Sridhar recalled Hooda’s early days in cricket, he called Hooda a “coach killer” during his U-19 years.
“He has reached the age of maturity. As a coach at his U-19 level, I have known him for a long time. Young, enthusiastic, and hardworking, he was. Because he practices so much, I used to call him a coach killer. During his U-19 years, he would ask, “Sir, let’s do a power-hitting session.”. “That was his favorite,” Sridhar recalled.
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According to Sridhar, Hooda used to hit the ball so far out of the stadium that they had to stop him from playing power-hitting sessions.
We used to tell him, “No Deepak, you don’t come because you’re hitting the balls into Cubbon Park (a famous area in Bengaluru) and we’re losing expensive white kookaburras.”. It’s not allowed to hit the ball across the road. Sridhar added, “He used to laugh a lot.”.
After being purchased for Rs. 5.75 crore in the mega auction, Hooda had a great Indian Premier League (IPL) season with Lucknow Super Giants. IPL magic earned him a spot in the Indian national team. In February of this year, he made his international debut and displayed some great skills. In T20I cricket, he became only the fourth Indian to reach the three-figure mark after scoring a ton against Ireland earlier this year.
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So far, Hooda has scored 274 runs at a strike rate of 161.17 in nine T20I matches. As a result of these figures, he has now been named in the Asia Cup 2022 squad as well as a strong contender for the middle-order spot in the T20 World Cup.
Hooda was previously praised for his dedication and hard work by former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan. How he capitalizes on his Asia Cup spot remains to be seen.
