A home debut is very special: Wayne Parnell opens up on first RCB stint in IPL 2023

RCB’s last encounter saw South African all-rounder Wayne Parnell make his RCB debut against the formidable Lucknow Super Giants and he was bang on his money right from the very onset of affairs. Moving the ball around laterally, he created quite a few doubts in the minds of the batters that would go on to reap handsome dividends for the South African quick.

Deepak Hooda was the first one to depart off Parnell’s bowling as Dinesh Karthik completed a simple catch. Parnell dealt his second blow in no time, sending Krunal Pandya back for a duck. 

Albeit going for a few runs, Parnell came back in the final over of the game to force a mistake from well-set Ayush Badoni, who attempted to sweep the ball to fine leg, only to hit his stumps with the bat and depart in anguish. Parnell finished with three wickets on his RCB debut, and although the team failed to make it across the finish line, his performance stood out. 

Talking in the Game Day review, Parnell said, “I think it was bitter-sweet. We got a really good total with the bat, started well with the ball in the PP, let them get away a little bit in the middle overs, credit to Stoinis and Pooran. They came in and looked like they were not going to mis-hit anything. Then again, we brought it back. In hindsight, 10 runs short but I think we still had enough runs, as a bowling run, we were 5-10% off but also have to give credit to Lucknow, their batters came out and chased it well.”

Talking on his debut, he added, “I wouldn’t say nervous, I was excited, it was the first time I’ve played in the IPL since 2014 so it was a very long break but I’ve been following the IPL every year, so it’s nothing new to me in terms of playing against these guys. Also playing at the Chinnaswamy, a home debut as well is really special, probably the most disappointing is not winning. The crowd here is amazing, I’m sure we’ll see that for the rest of the competition as well."