The youngster is having an excellent IPL 2024 season so far and has bettered his performance from the last season.
Delhi Capitals’ batting order has seen a no. of youngsters making their mark this season. In the absence of the veteran David Warner, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Rishabh Pant, and Tristan Stubbs have stamped their authority so far. Despite the inexperience, these batters have taken on the seasoned opposition bowlers to put mammoth totals on the board.
Youngster Abishek Porel has been one of those bright stars. Porel was signed last year by Delhi Capitals for Rishabh Pant, who was unavailable for the whole season because of the horrific car accident. He kept wickets in the absence of Pant and did a decent job behind the stumps. But he was also selected for his batting.
Porel had modest returns in his first IPL year as he scored just 33 runs in 4 matches. The youngster didn’t get many balls to make an impression either. But in IPL 2024, he was given a chance again but this time as a specialist batter as Pant was back with wicketkeeping duties. The left-hander made full use of those chances. He has scored 267 runs in 12 matches so far at an average of 33.37 and a strike rate of 157.98.
During an interview with Cricbuzz, Abishek Porel revealed about his ambitions to play Test Cricket. He credits his DC captain Rishabh Pant’s performance in Australia for his dream to play Test cricket.
“Jab Rishabh bhai ne Australia main jaake sau banaye, woh kuch kuch feelings aate hai ki ‘haan ye wala main cheez karoon toh kaise lagta’, toh uske baad mujhe fascination aaya ki haan main red ball khelunga aur Test khelunga. Uska respect alag hai, kyunki Test har koi khel nahi paata hai. Kyunki ball swing hota hai, woh bahut technical hona chahiye tabhi aap jaake survive kar paaoge. (When Rishabh bhai scored a hundred in Australia, I started thinking how it’d be to do something like that. That’s when I got the fascination to become a Test player. The respect you get for that is something else. Because not everyone can play Tests, you’ve got to be technically strong to survive when the ball swings,)” Porel said during the interview.
The 21-year-old youngster also understands the adjustments needed in the transition from the shorter format to the longer format.
“If I have a total of ten shots, I have to play only six in red-ball cricket to be able to get to a hundred because the ball will move around. Whereas, in T20s if I have ten shots, I’ll have to play 12 to get a hundred. You need to keep doing something extra there,” he reckoned.
“When you play red-ball cricket, you have to be patient to do well and in that time you get to read the game well too, I’m able to judge calmly what shots I can play, analyze what’s best to hit a boundary without risk. After playing that, coming here (to T20s) the focus helps. Shaanth rehta hai (You become calm),” Porel added.
Porel started this season with a bang, smashing 32^ runs off just 10 balls to help Delhi Capitals put up a respectable total on the board against Punjab Kings in their first match. He came in as the impact player in this match but is now a first-choice player in the playing XI.
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The left-hander has batted in five different positions this season before settling as the opener. David Warner’s unavailability also helped his cause as Abishek Porel and Jake Fraser-McGurk have formed an incredibly attacking pair for Delhi at the top.
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