Bengaluru, October 4: Royal Challengers Bangalore and India pacer Navdeep Saini seems to have taken an inspiration from the franchise's ex-bowler, who like him is known for clocking high speeds with the ball.
RCB defeated Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets, but there was something that grabbed the attention crickter fanatics on social media during the IPL 2020 encounter on Satrurday (October 3).
Saini bowled a beamer that hit Rahul Tewatia on the neck and sent him crashing to the ground in the last over of Royals' innings.
While Tewatia got back to his feet and smashed consecutive sixes off the next two balls, social media users caught the words written on Saini's shoes - "F*** it! Bowl Fast" - when the bowler checked up on Tewatia.
As the TV camera focussed on Tewatia, the frame also caught Saini's shoes - and the words "F*** it! Bowl Fast".
Navdeep Saini is inspired from Starc💪 pic.twitter.com/v0QyzQ6Pp1
— 𝙈𝙤𝙝𝙞𝙩 (@mohitsharma13__) October 3, 2020
Saini's source of motivation@_mubean__ @The_BeardMan_ @cricketgyani_an pic.twitter.com/cgUrXVUa7L
— Raghav Padia (@raghav_padia) October 3, 2020
Navdeep Saini’s shoe means it pic.twitter.com/r6akCWxQKt
— Jitesh Jaiswal (@Jiteshkjaiswal) October 3, 2020
This however, is not the first time such a message has appeared in a cricket context as Australia fast bowler Starc, who played for RCB in 2015, also had a similar message on his wrist band during a Test series against Pakistan in December 2019.
Saini and co managed to restrict RR to 154/6 in 20 overs thanks to a three-wicket haul from Yuzvendra Chahal before captain Virat Kohli's unbeaten 72 off 53 balls and Devdutt Padikkal's 63 off 45 balls helped them reach the target.
Next up for RCB in IPL 2020 is a top of the table clash against Delhi Capitals on Monday (October 5) in Dubai.