“They would kind of mentor me”: Jayden Seales credits the mentorship of Wahab Riaz and Suranga Lakmal in LPL ahead of ODI debut

Jayden Seales is set to make his ODI debut against Ireland, and he has given credit to the mentorship of Wahab Riaz and Suranga Lakmal in LPL.

Jayden Seales is one of the most promising pacers of the West Indies. He made his test debut last year at the young age of 19 years. Seales has been decent with the red-ball so far with 16 wickets in four games. However, in terms of white-ball, he has just played three List-A games. If all goes right, he will make his ODI debut for West Indies against Ireland.

Despite playing a very few List-A games, he has proved his class with the white-ball too. In the recent LPL, he was a part of the title-winning Jaffna Kings side. He was impressive in the tournament with 15 wickets and was the 2nd highest wicket-taker. In the tournament which was dominated by the spinners, Seales emerged as the best pacer of the tournament.

Jayden Seales credits the mentorship of Wahab Riaz and Suranga Lakmal in LPL

In a virtual press conference before the Ireland game, Seales has hailed the experience of playing in an overseas T20 league. He has credited the mentorship of Wahab Riaz and Suranga Lakmal in his improvement.

“I hung around a lot with Suranga Lakmal and Wahab Riaz,” Seales said.

“They would kind of mentor me in terms of my death bowling. I think that was the biggest struggle for me in the tournament, bowling my yorkers and things like that.”

“Being around those guys gave me a bit more confidence in my death bowling and helped me throughout the tournament.”

Young Jayden Seales tops the list for the youngest WI pacer to a maiden 5-wicket haul! 👏🏽🌴#WIvPAK #MenInMaroon pic.twitter.com/OHjfs1g8sj

— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) August 15, 2021

Jayden Seales is also in the reserves list for England’s T20I series as well. He insists that he is under the pressure of performing well due to a quick rise in the pecking order.

“I think I’ve been under pressure for the majority of the time in my career thus far, seeing as I’m a youngster and I’ve been performing,” Seales said.

“Now the media and everyone will look at me [and say] he has to perform, or if he doesn’t perform, the talk might come up ‘he’s too young’.

The first ODI between West Indies and Ireland will be played on 8 January 2022 at Sabina Park in Jamaica.