Manprit Juneja cherished batting against the Kiwi bowlers, especially Doug Bracewell in the second and final unofficial Test that India A played at Vishakhapatnam. He had played Bracewell plenty of times while practicing for Delhi Daredevils in the nets but batting in a first-class match was a bit different experience for. However, knowing how and where Bracewell will bowl, made his life a lot easier.
He smashed 193 runs in the first innings of the India A. He was quoted by The Times of India saying, "Their premier bowler is Doug Bracewell and having faced him at the Delhi Daredevils nets has really helped me. I have had long net sessions against Bracewell and knew what pace he bowls and his areas of strength."
Juneja doesn’t want to get carried away and is looking to pile up as many runs as possible in this Ranji Season to see himself in the Indian team. He knows the importance of the good performance in Ranji season as well as in the IPL, but he wants to focus on one thing at a time as it gives him a lot more to think about his game.
He knows that he will get better bowlers to face at international level and that’s what he wants to learn from the IPL where best of the lot get their shoes on to play some fierce cricket. He was quoted by Indian Express saying, "I would say every tournament has its pluses, whether it's Ranji Trophy which helps you in preparing for longer format or IPL where you get to play best bowlers. The small contributions that I made in IPL (48 vs MI at Wankhede) had helped me evolve as a player.”
It’s not like that Juneja has played such a big innings for the first time in his short career of just 12 first-class matches. He has scored a double hundred against Tamil Nadu and that too on his Ranji debut and he thinks that it was the best effort from him with the bat so far in the domestic circuit.
The 22-year-old was quoted by Deccan Herald saying, "No, I think my debut double hundred was a better effort. Today's innings was satisfying but I am not entirely happy. Yes, I am happy that I have managed to bat the whole day. Also would like to thank Jagadeesh and Nayar bhai (Abhishek) for their support."
Though, the match headed towards the draw after the end of third’s day play but he is still positive that if bowlers can do some early damage then India stand some chance. Juneja said, "We will be positive from the start and see how it goes. The pitch is a slow one and one has to work really hard as a bowler to make things happen."
