(Cricket News) Abin Matthew displayed reluctance towards cricket. He engaged in club cricket in Kochi, often finding himself chosen as an extra responsible for carrying drinks, as he admitted. Abin’s parents, Mathai Matthew, a daily wage laborer, and Daisy Matthew, a lab technician, initiated a conversation about his future that prompted him to make a life decision.

“I was never good at cricket. It was just for fun. I was just a squad player. After I turned 18, there was pressure from the family because of the financial duress. I casually told my parents ‘okay, I will play cricket.’ Father was a bit upset, but he said, ‘Fine, play the game like your life depends on it,'” Matthew shared. “I gave a tryout at the Swanton Cricket Club, where former India pacer Tinu Yohannan has also played.

My coach Tiju Francis was the first one who told me that I can be a good pacer. I had pace but I was always erratic. He worked on with me, and in a couple of years, I was playing for Kerala U-23,” Matthew recalled.

In the present scenario, Matthew’s exceptional performance with figures of 4/30 has left Delhi struggling in their second innings. The hosts are at 126/8, holding a lead of 30 runs, and Pondicherry is on the verge of securing an outright win. In the first innings, Pondicherry was bowled out for 244, establishing a healthy lead of 96 runs. Matthew bowled diligently in the first innings, maintaining a tight line with an economy of 1.65 after bowling 17 overs.

In the second innings for Delhi, Abin’s impact was notable as he claimed crucial wickets, including that of Delhi’s captain Yash Dhull. His second spell turned the tables, picking up wickets and contributing to Delhi losing five wickets for 14 runs. Reflecting on their strategy, Matthew mentioned, “The moment we saw the pitch, we realized that it can be tricky if we won’t control our line. The plan was to make them play more, and it worked. As a bowling unit, everything that we had chalked out has worked out perfectly.”

Although Matthew is not originally from Pondicherry, he became one of the homegrown talents after moving there in 2019, despite facing document-related challenges. Now, at 26, he is poised to lead Pondicherry towards victory and hopes to conclude the match early for some sightseeing in Delhi. “We would love to finish it early and take all seven points. Hopefully, I’ll be able to visit some of the historical places in Delhi,” he remarked.

In the context of Delhi’s second innings, notable dismissals, including Yash Dhull and Ayush Badoni, left a veteran DDCA official in disbelief, expressing dissatisfaction with the current team. The DDCA official labeled the team as the “worst bunch” and highlighted various questionable shot selections and decisions made by the Delhi players during their innings. The brief scores stand at Delhi 148 & 126/8 (Abin Matthew 4/30, Gourav Yadav 2/39, Saurabh Yadav 2/43) vs. Pondicherry 244 all out (Paras Ratnaparkhe 60; Krishna Pandey 44; Hritik Shokeen 4/46, Himanshu Chauhan 3/60).

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