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Super Kings' latest recruit ready to make IPL impact
Chennai Super Kings’ new recruit John Hastings admits it will be difficult to break into the team, but is confident he can rise to the challenge if selected.
The Australian last represented his country in the Twenty20 format in 2011, taking three wickets and scoring 32 runs in his three appearances.
He took eight wickets as Melbourne Stars finished fourth in the KFC Big Bash this year. That was enough to fetch him five million rupees ($800,000/Dh3m) and a spot in the Chennai squad despite not playing a single Indian Premier League match in his stint with Kochi Tuskers Kerala before the franchise was terminated in 2011.
“They [CSK] are a very good side. If I get the opportunity, I hope to impress. But having said that, it’s going to be hard finding a spot in a very, very good team,” said the 28-year-old, whose side trained for the first time in the UAE at the Nursery Oval in Abu Dhabi ahead of their opener against Kings XI Punjab on Friday.
“I’m very pumped up and I hope to get a role. I know the team will be very hard to stop.”
The two-time champions and five-time finalists lost to Mumbai Indians in last year’s final and the 6 foot 4 inches cricketer says the team is eager to reclaim the title.
Chennai hold a 58.8 per centsuccess record in the IPL, having won 59 games out of 99 they have played so far.
“Having come close last year and winning the title twice as well, the team will be very hungry in achieving some success this year,” Hastings said.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was not present at the training session and he is expected to join the squad tomorrow. In Dhoni’s absence, former New Zealand captain and team coach Stephen Fleming took charge of the training yesterday, and Hastings had nothing but praise for the 41-yearold.
“He is very simple, he puts a lot of confidence into the boys and you have to look at his international record,” he said. “He was a fantastic player and has a very good cricket brain as well.”
Having played in Australia’s ODI tour to India in 2011, where he dismissed Dhoni and Virat Kohli on his debut, Hastings knows about the conditions in the sub-continent and he believes the conditions in the UAE will be no different.
“It will be very similar to the sub-continent. I think the dew will be a big factor, and the wet ball, I think that will be something we will have to practice with,” he said.
The right-arm fast-medium bowler is a firm believer that one ball can change the outcome of a match.
“The T20 format has evolved so much. The bowlers are always thinking, and it’s about how to out think them [the batsman],” he said.
“You always have to be one step ahead of the batsman in all games. My bowling is very simple. I try to do the basics well, have a lot of changes in pace and I try really hard to not give the batsmen the chance.”
