RISHABH SPARKLES AS SKIPPER
In this IPL season, the Delhi Capitals captain has showed that he is clever enough to learn and his usual street smart savvy meant he was on top of most situations and was nding his own method to get out of sticky ones. He is one for the future, no doubt
Sadly, the IPL had to be suspended after a couple of the players and some members of the support sta tested positive for Covid19. In a tight biosecure bubble which had no issues for the greater part of a month, how the virus came through will, no doubt, be investigated by the authorities to ensure that in future such a breach can be sealed o. Till that happened, the tournament was its usual exciting one with most games going down till the nal over and supporters of each team holding their breath in anticipation of what was to unfold.
While Royal Challengers Bangalore had its best ever start to the tournament and would have loved to carry that form, Sunrisers Hyderabad had a forgettable beginning and would have been relieved that the event had to be suspended. All the other teams were in top form with last year’s disappointing team, Chennai Super Kings, looking like the champion it usually had been all these years. There was a renewed energy about the team this time, though there were no major changes to its squad. The promotion of Moeen Ali to the top of the order at No. 3 turned out to be a master stroke as the lefthanded batsman produced some blistering innings. The seasoned Faf du Plessis was in cracking form, too, and, along with the promising Ruturaj Gaekwad, gave the team some top starts. Sam Curran continues to impress and improve with every game and bids fair to be considered a proper allrounder now. It’s the nal overs’ bowling that the side needs to strengthen as was evident in the match against Mumbai when, despite scoring 21■, it lost the game o the last ball.
The Bangalore team had a marvellous
run thanks in the main to its batting dominated by the peerless A. B. de Villiers. Young Devdutt Padikkal got a terric century and looks a great prospect for the future in all forms of the game. Glenn Maxwell was the surprise as he batted like he bats for Australia and not like someone who has accidentally strolled on to a village green and been asked to ll in to make 11 players. That he has the talent has been known for a while, but this was one season where he has also shown the inclination to make the most of that talent with admirable temperament. Mohammed Siraj has gone from strength to strength after the tour of Australia and he was relentlessly at the batsmen even in the nal over just as how he was at the rst over of the innings.
Mumbai had its usual slow start and was just getting into the champion mode with that fabulous run chase against Chennai when the tournament got suspended. Its batting was inconsistent with the shining exception of Kieron Pollard and even its famed bowling was, this time, taken for more runs than usual. The break will allow the side to take stock of the situation and improve in the areas it needs to.
Punjab, Kolkata and Rajasthan were like last year, playing some amazing games and then some ordinary cricket to lose matches they should have won. The suspension could well be a blessing in disguise as it allows time for a calm, cool and proper introspection rather than in the hurlyburly of the tournament itself.
Hyderabad will also get time to think about its decision to not just sack David Warner as the captain but even to drop him from the playing XI. Warner was getting runs but not in the same assertive manner of earlier years. Still, with little support from the others, those runs were precious. Yet, he was left out of the playing XI, which was strange. Without the cares of captaincy, he could have been the galvanising batsman that the team needed. While the rights and wrongs of dropping him as captain could well be debated for long, the question that needs to be asked is if captains can be changed midway, why can’t coaches be treated the same? In football, the moment a team starts faltering, it’s the manager who is shown the exit door, so why not in cricket too?
The standout team Delhi Capitals under young Rishabh Pant. By the sixth game one could see that he was getting tired of being asked about being captain. Every presenter at the postgame ceremony had the same question to him. What he showed was a spark that can become a roaring re if allowed to burn naturally. Yes, he will make mistakes; which captain doesn’t? But like he showed in the few games in the IPL that he is clever enough to learn and his usual streetsmart savvy meant he was on top of most situations and was nding his own method to get out of sticky ones. He is one for the future, no doubt about it.
That’s because he has shown that talent can meet opportunity only when it walks hand in hand with temperament.
Chris Morris turned heads when he was picked by Rajasthan Royals for a whopping 16.25 crore at the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction. His selection drew disbelief and even raised eyebrows, but the seasoned South African fastbowling allrounder proved his worth in the tournament. In the absence of Jofra Archer, Morris spearheaded the Royals bowling unit.
And although he would have wanted to keep the ball rolling, he hopes the remainder of the IPL season, postponed due to a rise in Covid19 cases across the country, is held later this year.
In an interview with Sportstar from New Delhi — hours before leaving for South Africa — Morris spoke about the postponement, the challenges of the biobubble and the Royals’ performance in the tournament.
What are your thoughts on the postponement of the IPL?
It was quite unfortunate that we had to end it, but these things happen. There’s a lot of people going through a lot at the moment, and postponing it was probably the safest thing to do, and let everyone at home or in India focus on beating Covid because that’s the most important thing now. The positive is we will probably get to nish the tournament later this year, so I think they took the call at the right time. It was slightly getting a bit hectic now.
In these trying times, do you have any message for your fans in India?
Be safe, let’s beat this virus. It’s going to be dicult because it is obviously spreading quite quickly, so please stay at home, and as soon as we beat this, we will be up and running again and will nish o the IPL. We will obviously see when and where that happens, but there is an opportunity to have a fully t squad and you never know what will happen then!
How did the players hold up — mentally and emotionally? How did your family members back in South Africa cope with your absence in these dicult times?
Family was ne. I have married an absolute superhero, so my wife is an absolute legend. Luckily, technology these days makes things easier. You could Facetime, so we could speak quite a few times a day. I could see my wife and son. In terms of keeping yourself busy in the bubble, we managed to meet each other in someone’s room or nd a common place to just sit and talk. I liked watching cricket together. Then there was obviously English football — I was very disappointed that the Manchester United versus Liverpool game got postponed.
So, we just made things work, we just spent time together as a team. In Mumbai, we had a very nice pool in the hotel where we could spend time with the team. You just had to nd ways to keep busy. There was also bingewatching on Netflix. We just found ways to spend time with our teammates and get to know each other better.
At a time when some of your teammates pulled out and many countries imposed travel bans on India, did the thought of heading back home cross your mind as well?
Personally, I would have never left the bubble. The only time I would’ve thought of leaving the bubble would be if there was a death in the family. In that case, I would have to be home, but otherwise my mom, my wife and my family knew that I would be away for so much time. And that would have gone a bit longer had there been travel bans and quarantine, so they were aware of it. Like I said, I have married a superwoman, so yeah, I knew I would pull if o.
Amid uncertainty, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) assured the players that they would reach home safely after the tournament. How much of a condence booster did that mean for the overseas players like you?
In our bubbles we were pretty safe. In terms of getting home, that was in the hands of the governments of the country, and the BCCI unfortunately wouldn’t be able to change the governments’ minds. It’s a terrible time that the world is going through, but that’s the rules that the governments have made and you have got to stick by them. We trusted the BCCI to take us home safely and they made sure that we got home. At the end of the day, you got to follow the laws of the country. If that does not allow you to go home straightaway, then somehow or somewhere they got to gure a plan on how to get the players home.
Rajasthan Royals recently donated 7.5 crore towards Covid relief in India. How do you see this move and the fact that other players are also donating part of their salaries?
Rajasthan Royals has its own foundation. Most of our players — if not all — have contributed. It’s all for a good cause. We were quite adamant earlier on in the tournament and we sat down with our COO (chief operating ocer) Jake (Lush Mccrum) and decided that we needed to help the people. All of us as players contributed to help in whatever way we can. People are struggling and it’s very sad to see what’s going on. It hit me hard a few weeks ago when we reached Delhi. It was really hard. The Rajasthan Royals foundation is doing a great job, and in these times, any help is a help.
From being the most expensive cricketer at the auction to being the pace spearhead of Rajasthan Royals — how would you rate your IPL experience in terms of your performance?
It was a bit of a roller coaster (ride). Obviously, we had a few injuries, we lost a few players; our performances were slightly up and down. So, roller coasters are a good way of putting it. The boys put in the hard yards behind the scenes, they trained really well, worked really hard with their game plans. But sometimes you get beaten, sometimes you lose the small moments in the game which lead up to become big moments. So yeah, it was a bit hot and cold, but there were some good signs. When we played well, we really played well. Sometimes when we didn’t play well, we did not play well at all. It was about making the right decision at the right time, and we as a team were slowly but surely nding momentum.
After you were roped in by the Royals at the auction, team director Kumar Sangakkara had stated that you have a specic role of backing Jofra Archer.
But with Archer ruled out of the tournament, how challenging was it initially to step into his shoes and lead the bowling attack?
I don’t necessarily think that I stepped into anyone’s shoes. In our bowling attack, we are all leaders in our own way, with our own specic skills. We have Mustazur (Rahman), who is a genius with the white ball and he has been doing that for quite a few years now, internationally and all around the world. We have some of the youngsters coming in, who were really eager to show what they can do and they have done really well.
We have got JD (Jaydev Unadkat), who has done so well over the years for any franchise he has played for. At the end of the day, we each are leaders in our own way.
Jofra’s absence was a massive loss for us. He is a worldclass bowler and he has got
that Xfactor that a lot of teams need in this tournament. At the end of the day, we dealt with it. Earlier, we accepted that he would not be available for the rst half, obviously not knowing that he would not be playing. In these types of tournaments, you just need to crack on and get on with it and make it work. Everyone has taken responsibility for their own jobs and has done it nicely.
The Rajasthan Royals bowling has seemed erratic in the last couple of seasons. This time, the team’s pace department looked in shape with both you and Mustazur tuning well with the Indian bowlers like Unadkat. What are your thoughts on this bowling attack?
As a bowling unit, apart from one game, we were very good. We hit our plans as good as we could have. We stuck to our plans and both the guys (Mustazur and Unadkat) are so experienced. They know their craft so well, so to be bowling with those guys is quite nice. It’s quite a good thing to be part of. Apart from one game, all matches were close games and we learned. We understood where we lost. We lost two big players — Archer and Ben Stokes — who would build the team around. But we addressed those things and it was a duty for everyone to carry those responsibilities and carry that extra load.
With the tournament being held in a clustercaravan format, none of the teams had a home advantage. And most teams struggled to read the conditions and gauge the wickets right — at least in the rst leg. What do you think was the reason?
As a bowling unit, I don’t think anyone wanted to bowl in Mumbai again because of the number of runs that were scored there (laughs). Chennai was a slow wicket, but, of course, we did not play there. Look, it is all about adapting. We are all professionals and you have got to adapt to what you’ve got, and anyone who’s played cricket would tell you that Mumbai is one of the toughest places to bowl in the world. There were highscoring games and only a few lowscoring xtures. The runs owed nicely in Mumbai, so as a bowler, you sometimes need to swallow your pride and take it on your chin and try to limit the damage. Unfortunately, T20 is a batter’s game most of the time. When you get a slow turning wicket, sometimes as fast bowlers, we want to take advantage of that. We are all professionals, so we need to adapt to the situations and play your best.
With Stokes out of the tournament, you and Jos Buttler helped captain Sanju Samson in terms of leadership. What are the roles that were dened for the senior players?
Sanju did an incredible job. Obviously, we lost some big players, but Sanju was calm and he did not say much as a captain, which sometimes was very nice because that helped in keeping things simple. He did a very good job. He got the boys together and encouraged them. I think we are a team of 11 senior players, yes, some of us have played a lot more international cricket and might see one or two things that the young eyes don’t pick up. But the youngsters did really well and I am sure a lot of people took notice of what they did this season.