"I hope to break into the senior side and feature in the playing XI" - Mysore Warriors' Shubhang Hegde on the back of impressive showing in Maharaja Trophy 2022

One of the brightest talents to have attracted eyeballs in this year's Maharaja Trophy 2022, Mysore Warriors' young all-rounder Shubhang Hegde has rattled opposition batsmen with clever variations of pace.

A tall spinner gifted with the ability to extract bounce off the surface, Hegde's brought his bag of tricks to the forefront, accounting for 14 wickets from 11 matches that now sees him placed 3rd in the list of bowlers with the most wickets in Maharaja Trophy 2022.

Hegde's success this season has been a byproduct of a wholesale change in not only personal traits but also strategy, with a new role of bowling the tough overs majorly facilitating the youngster's contributions in the Mysore Warriors' wins this season.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, Hegde shed light on the importance of role clarity given to him by the Warriors, his new modus operandi and what's in store for the immediate future.

"Right from the start, it was clear that I will have to bowl at least one or two overs in the powerplay, and I will bat higher than where I was batting in the KPL," the youngster said.

Hegde, 21, was also a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore as an intern during the IPL, where he shared the dressing room with some of cricket's biggest names in Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers among others.

The all-rounder stressed on how just being a part of the RCB setup helped him learn the ropes quickly.

"Being in the RCB camp mainly helped teach me the right lengths to bowl in a T20 game. Apart from that, watching just how they prepare for a T20 game was a great learning."

Shubhang Hegde keen to make Karnataka senior team white-ball debut soon

Hegde, despite being all of 21, has quite some experience under his belt, having led Karnataka in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy and also made India's U-19 World Cup squad for the global competition that took place in January 2020.

The young spinner made his Karnataka Ranji Trophy debut back in 2019, but he's yet to make his maiden appearance for the senior state side in white ball cricket - a dream which he intends to fulfill in the near future.

"I hope to get into the senior side and feature in the playing XI. I wanted to better my bowling, I've now adapted to something more accurate which is giving my better results. Ultimately the end result matters, that's the focus."

Shubhang will next turn out for the Mysore Warriors in Qualifier 2 of the Maharaja Trophy 2022, when they take on the Gulbarga Mystics for an all-important spot in the summit clash that's scheduled for August 26th at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.