On a day when youngsters found it difficult to impress buyers at the IPL auctions in Kolkata on Thursday, former Rajasthan Royals leg-spinner Pravin Tambe, who was the oldest player in the list at 48 years, was snapped up by Kolkata Knight Riders at his base price of Rs 20 lakh.
But, Tambe believes that age is what one feel and the leg-spinner from Mumbai doesn't think that he is one day older than 20.
“I still play with a mindset like I am a 20-year-old young,” said Tambe, who has an 18-year-old son. “I will bring all my experience and energy to the team. And that positivity. I know that I can bring that, even if I’m with them not playing.”
"People say many things but I keep doing my job and put in a lot of hardwork. I will like to do well in whatever role given to me be it in fielding or bowling. It's not to prove anything. If that was the case, I could not have played so long. I'm really excited to play for them," Tambe, who works as sports teacher at DY Patil, said.
"My family has supported me all these years. They keep inspiring me. KKR must have seen something in me to have bought me. I'm grateful to KKR team management. I want to give them back. If you get the support, you can go a long way," Tambe said.
Tambe shot into prominence with a hat-trick (3/26) against Kolkata Knight Riders to spin Rajasthan to victory by 10 runs in IPL 2014 in Ahmedabad.
"I distinctly remember the moment. I'm really proud to be playing for the same team now. It was a match-winning show and my dream now would be to give a similar match-winning performance for KKR," he said
Tambe will look to fill in the void left by Piyush Chawla who was released by KKR and was bought by Chennai Super Kings at the auction.
"I knew I would fit in as a back-up player. They did not have many spinners left in the slot. I'm just focusing about performing well. I don't want to bother what people are talking about," said Tambe, knowing fully well that questions will be raised about logic behind buying a 48-year-old instead of a rookie who has future in this game.
"I never played cricket to achieve anything. I love this game and that's what has kept me going always," said Tambe, who was last in the news for reporting a corrupt approach from his erstwhile Mumbai Ranji Trophy teammate Hiken Shah.
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