Kings XI Punjab star Paul Valthaty enjoys post-IPL fame, names Tendulkar and Federer as role models
The blazing Kings XI http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Paul-Chandrashekar-Valthaty-c81032, has said that he feels great to be recognised by Indian people after his excellent work in the 2011 Indian Premier League (IPL).
Although, the Punjab side failed to qualify for the knockout stages, the recent IPL season proved to be a turning point in Valthaty’s life.
Valthaty’s cricket career is an unusual case for a player of his potential. After making a promising start in domestic cricket, he remained in the wilderness for the next 10 years.
Valthaty recently shot into prominence by smashing a match-winning innings of 120* in the 9th IPL game against Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK), and, eventual IPL 2011 champions.
The 27-year-old batsman emerged as the second highest run scorer for Kings XI after Shaun Marsh. In 14 IPL games, he scored 463 runs at a fabulous strike rate of almost 137.
Valthaty, who is confident of getting a place in the national side, revealed that the Twenty20 league brought many positive changes in his life, saying that he has been enjoying his post-IPL stardom.
"It feels http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Timothy-Francis-Bloomfield-c94006 that people recognise you. But for my friends, I am the same Paul that I used to be before IPL”, Valthaty said.
Terming the legendary Indian batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sachin-Ramesh-Tendulkar-c87800, and the international tennis star, Roger Federer, as his role models, the right-handed batsmen described that he always gets inspiration from them.
"I have always looked up to Roger Federer and Sachin Tendulkar for inspiration. They are the true champions and their achievements really inspires me", the aggressive batsman added.
Aiming to perform even better in the next season of the cash-rich Twenty20 competition, Valthaty shared, "I believe that I can repeat my performance in the next edition also. I would like to do what players like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/P-Rohit-Sharma-c80557 has been doing".
He also heaped special praise on his IPL skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gordon-Muchall-c1499 from the former Aussie wicket-keeper.
Meanwhile, Valthaty, expressed that his http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Main-c73911 focus will be to be consistent in the future, as he still has a long way to go in his cricket career.
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