All eyes were on the superstars in the IPL 2022 opener between CSK and KKR, but one man stole the limelight.
Sheldon Jackson finally got a chance to play his first IPL game since 2017 and his wicket-keeping grabbed attention right away.
The first glimpse of Jackson's wicket-keeping was witnessed when Robin Uthappa missed a flick and went off-balance off Varun Chakaravarthy. It was a wide delivery, but the KKR stumper disturbed the bails off in a flash.
Jackson's impressive reaction time impressed fans all over social media. The great Sachin Tendulkar took to Twitter to hail the KKR wicket-keeper, saying that piece of work reminded him of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, praise Jackson immediately hailed as one of his finest achievements.
Jackson also tried to stump Dhoni when the latter missed a delivery from the spinners. Though the wicket-keeping legend was back safely inside the crease, the 35 year old's efforts were excellent.
While he looked dangerously close at times, Yuvraj Singh took to Twitter to advise the Saurashtra player to wear a helmet when keeping to the spin bowlers and wished him all the best for the opportunity he got after a long time.
Before IPL 2022 began, Jackson's name had gone viral on social media when one commentator called him an overseas player in a discussion on a television channel!
Sheldon Philip Jackson was born in Bhavnagar and made his debut for Saurashtra in 2011. He played for Puducherry in the 2020-2021 season, but returned to Saurashtra this Ranji Trophy season.
Tall for a wicket-keeper -- he stands 6 feet -- Jackson has scored 5,634 runs in first class cricket at an average of 49.42, with 19 hundreds and 27 half-centuries.
That he was entrusted the gloves ahead of Sam Billings indicates the faith KKR Coach Brendon McCullum has in his abilities.
