JORDAN’S GOT TIPS FROM TOP
CHRIS JORDAN has been mixing with the cricketing gods in India – and insists his stint in Asia will help spice up his one-day game.
The Sussex all-rounder reached the final of the Indian Premier League with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) last month, where he played alongside giants such as AB de Villiers, Shane Watson and India’s Virat Kohli.
Jordan (below) spent his time on the sub-continent picking up hints from the superstars after being given permission to go by England supremo Andrew Strauss.
And he reckons that Strauss’s decision will start to pay off when the one-day series against Sri Lanka begins at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.
Jordan, 28, said: “When I first walked into the dressing room, I saw guys I have looked up to for so many years.
“I saw how Kohli operates off the field and his training regime is very intense. I was surprised at the amount he trains and how well he looks after his body – and he told me about the way he goes out and bats.
“He does something every day in the gym and he has hunger and drive to
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keep doing it again and again – he doesn’t rest on any laurels. He was the most impressive. “I watched how Watson operates because he is an all-rounder – he has been doing it for years. He trains quite smart and I picked up one or two things from him – it was a good dressing room to be involved in.” RCB, coached by New Zealand legend Daniel Vettori, just missed out in the final to Sunrisers Hyderabad, but Jordan, who joined late on in the campaign, reckons the high-octane pressure of the IPL will stand him in good stead for the rest of the summer. He added: “Every game we played in was a must-win game, so every game I played in was a highpressure game. “There was no time for any looseners or any mishaps. You are bowling against different players, you are bowling on different pitches, and it requires a different skill-set. I just had to improve my nous. “If you messed up at that time, you were out of the tournament. “I was straight into the firing line. That was exactly what I was looking to gain out of that tournament. “Every single ground is packed, the passion for cricket out there is unbelievable, we experienced it a bit with the T20 World Cup – that was exactly what I was looking for when I went to the IPL.”