When price flirted with the IPL
JOHANNESBURG — Perhaps you can picture the scene — an aging, flat-footed Zimbabwean spinner is taking his annual holidays with the family in Durban.
After a morning playing in the sand with the kids, a shopping trip is called for.
As he browses the isles of the supermarket, marvelling at how cheap everything is in comparison to the shops back home — where everything carries a heavy import duty — his brother hands him a mobile phone. “It’s Shaun Pollock,” he says.
A South African accent comes on the line.
It says that the Mumbai Indians have lost the services of Moises Henriques, and want the spinner to join them for the remainder of the Indian Premier League.
He has entered three IPL auctions before, never paying great attention to them because the chances of a Zimbabwean spinner being picked up are so remote when India is full of such tradesmen.
IPL auction days were generally spent fishing, not following a live feed of the auction, and they never finished with an unexpected contract.
So, the only conclusion to draw is that this phone call is a prank.
“I thought it was one of my mates stuffing around,” says Ray Price, and if you know Price’s sense of humour, you would suspect he keeps company with the sort of fellows who might do such a thing.
“Then I realised it really was Polly, and he was saying I needed to get my butt over to Mumbai. So we had to cut our holiday short, which the family were not that chuffed about.”
Looking back on his career, it is clear that 2011 was the only time that an IPL gig would have come Price’s way.
He was 34, and at the peak of what he himself admits were limited powers to start with.
It had been 12 years since his Test debut.
The left- armer was second on the ICC’s ODI rankings list when Pollock’s call came in, and a fruitful World Cup on the subcontinent — where his economy rate of 3.44 was bettered only by Ajantha Mendis among those who bowled more than 10 overs - had made his abilities as visible as ever.
“I was over the moon as you can imagine, especially to be picked by a team like Mumbai with players like Sachin and Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds,” Price recalls.
“Just to be around them was so much fun, people I had played against but never really spent much time with. I really enjoyed the net sessions and seeing how they trained, and what they did in their day-to-day practice.
“We had a few South Africans in the team as well as Andrew Symonds, and guys who I had played against, so it was quite easy to slip into the changing room.
‘’Obviously, a little bit intimidating with Sachin leading the whole thing, but he’s a really easy-going guy. I didn’t chat too much; I just enjoyed being around them.”
It was late April by the time that Price joined up with Mumbai, and the IPL was in full swing.
The Indians had won five of their first six games, so they were not exactly dying for fresh input.
But on May 22, his opportunity came.
“That ground was packed, man. It was awesome,” says Price. “The situation was huge. I’d played a few international games there so it was great to be back on the ground again, but they played me well.”
After winning the toss and electing to bowl first, Tendulkar threw the ball to Price as early as the fifth over.
It didn’t go particularly well. His second delivery was angled in towards the right-handed Manoj Tiwary, and although the batsman’s connection was not great, it was enough to beat short fine leg and race away for four.
Three balls later, Tiwary gave Price the charge.
This time a proper connection saw the ball sail over long-on for six. The over cost 14 runs.
Tendulkar persisted, and Price’s next over went for just six, as Jacques Kallis paid the spinner some respect.
But when Price returned for the 10th over, he was up against Yusuf Pathan. A slog sweep saw the fourth delivery disappear miles back into the stands at square leg, and then Kallis got stuck in, driving the final delivery over extra cover for four.
Another 13 runs meant Price had gone for 33 in three overs.
He didn’t bowl again. — cricbuzz.