Runners-up in this year’s IPl, Kings XI Punjab are looking forward to the upcoming Champions league Twenty20 challenge with skipper George Bailey today saying that the side is focused and well prepared for the games ahead.
When asked if the ClT20 tournament would be a fresh start for the team after it put up its best ever performance in the IPl reaching the finals, Bailey, said, “It is a new start, we take the good things out of IPl, what we learnt as a team and hopefully how much we grew, but I think we focus on the games ahead, it is very much a fresh start.”
With KXIP hoping to break the IPl jinx of not winning the title, Bailey said, “It was a good IPl, but it wasn’t the IPl that we wanted (not winning the title), so there’s still a plenty of room for improvement.”
Asked how he assesses his current form, he said he is in good form. “The form is nice, I’m feeling good, had some runs in the practice the other day.”
Asked about injury to team’s frontline bowler Mitchell Johnson, KXIP caoch Sanjay Bangar said, “as of now, we are still waiting for clearance from Cricket Australia. We cannot really take a call as of now as we are still waiting for his clearance.”
Bangar said that Mitchell Johnson is a quality performer, who always leads the team attack, but the team is ready for the upcoming tournament even if he is not available. “Whether he is available or not, we still have a group of individuals who are capable of executing the role that is being given to them. It will be good if he is available, but we are ready to cope with the eventuality of his non-availablity,” Bangar pointed out.
About Virender Sehwag’s role, Bangar said it would not be any different from the IPl. “He plays cricket the way only he can play. We have given him a lot of freedom even in the past season and this season is going to be no different. Obviously, he has been giving us a good start,” he said.
We need to improve our fielding: Pollard
Raipur: Mumbai Indians might have won a one-sided battle against Sri lankan outfit Southern Express but skipper Kieron Pollard said that the players need to improve their fielding if they want to enter the main draw.
Mumbai thrashed the Jehan Mubarak-led side by 9 wickets here on Sunday but were all over the place in the field as they dropped catches, missed a stumping and displayed poor ground fielding after they elected to bowl first.
“We need to improve our fielders, If we field like that against better teams, they’re going to kill us. We made it hard for ourselves by giving them 160. It could have easily been 120,” said Pollard after the win.
The Mumbai openers laid a solid platform with a 139-run partnership as lendl Simmons (76 not out) and Mike Hussey (60) helped the IPl side gallop to its target in 16.2 overs to stay alive in the race for the main draw. “Much better performance tonight. Congratulations to Simmons who got some runs, but there’s a lot of room for improvements,” he added. “I did a bit of grafting up top while the ball was nipping around. We needed to get a good start and me and Huss did that today,” said Man of the Match Simmons.
ClT20 ideal preparation for ODI series vs India: Rampaul
New Delhi: Senior West Indies pacer Ravi Rampaul feels that playing for Barbados Tridents in the ongoing Oppo Champions league T20 in India will help him “boost his confidence” ahead of the five-match ODI series against the hosts, starting in another three weeks time.
“It would be good for me because I would like to hit the ground running. Hopefully, I can get in some good performances in the tournament and get my confidence up ahead of that series,” Rampaul said on Monday.
Rampaul had played a pivotal role in Tridents’ successful campaign in the Caribbean Premier league finishing with 18 wickets in the tournament and the 29-year-old feels that he is in the “best phase” of his career right now. “I’ve been working hard and I think this is my best phase in my T20 career. This is because I’ve become a far better death bowler than I was ever before. I worked hard during the CPl to sharpen up on fitness front and wickets I took is a testimony to that. Hopefully in the ClT20, I can be among the wickets again,” the pacer stated.
Rampaul did let out one of the trade secrets which led to his improving success rate in the shorter format. “Since CPl played mostly in the day, I tried to get the ball to reverse swing a little more and that worked to my advantage.”
For Rampaul, the toughest batsman in the tournament will be maverick Aussie Glenn Maxwell, who was a nightmare for the bowlers during the last edition of IPl. “There are a lot of top batsmen in the tournament but I think Glenn Maxwell is right up there too and seeing we’ve him in our first game (against KXIP), he’ill be the toughest to bowl to,” maintained Rampaul.