Ronchi looking forward to Pakistan trip
dubai — Some of the foreign players may still be undecided on travelling to Pakistan, while some may have replied in the negative, but Luke Ronchi has no qualms in making the trip.
The New Zealander has been the batting mainstay for Islamabad United in the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) this season, topping the run charts and guiding the inaugural champions to the final in Karachi.
This will be his second sojourn to the country and he has fond memories from that trip in 2007-2008 with the Australia ‘A’ squad.
And Ronchi is looking forward to his second trip to Pakistan.
“I’ve been on an ‘A’ tour. We were in Lahore, Faisalabad and Sheikhupura. It is a clean country, nice country, hot. Everyone is looking forward to the final,” said Ronchi.
“We know that the final was sold out in three hours so it is going to be a massive crowd. And I was saying I hope I don’t play against Karachi so that we actually have some support in that crowd. So, it is going to be good for Islamabad United fans, players, supporters, the whole unit that we have,” he added.
Ronchi revealed that he was quite happy with the security assurances and the information that was given and based his decision on them.
“There are obviously different things that you have to go through and think about and stuff like that. But, with the information we were given and the time frames of different things, it is a sort of a decision that you could talk to people about and come up with,” said the 36-year-old.
“Each person has their own choice and I totally believe that it is the way it should be. People don’t want to go, they don’t have to, people want to go, they can. But it is going to be exciting for the PSL to have the players there and a majority of our team is going as well. So, that makes it even more exciting. We have had the same group for the whole time and it is going to be fantastic to be there,” Ronchi said.
Ronchi has been in sublime form in this edition, with four half-centuries and he has smashed records for the fastest 50. He is the top run-getter with 383 runs from 10 matches.
And Ronchi floored the Karachi Kings with an unbeaten 94 from just 39 deliveries in the Qualifier in Dubai.
“It was just how it worked out. There were a few dropped catches, which always help and it was just one of those days when the ball was finding the middle of the bat and I was just trying to go with the flow. For me, it is just going out and batting. If I have a clear mind, then things like this can happen. And it hasn’t been just today, there have been a few other games where I sort of started the innings off well. And it just kept happening for me,” said Ronchi.
“It feels amazing to go out and do that in an innings. But it is not a plan to go out and bat that way. It is just that by chance they bowled some balls where you feel comfortable and you sort of want them to bowl maybe or you expect they might bowl it. And that sort of gets my momentum going and then you get to a point where you feel like you can hit any ball for four or six. They still bowled some good slower balls and I mistimed some shots so, they certainly tried a few different things. But I felt pretty comfortable with the way things were going and confident in what I was doing,” he added.
james@khaleejtimes.com