South Africa’s Dale Steyn is looking forward to potentially collaborating with New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult during the Indian Premier League, which gets underway on Wednesday.
Steyn had a relatively quiet 2015 World Cup campaign in Australasia recently, securing 11 wickets in eight matches. Boult, meanwhile, clinched 22 in nine – to finish joint-top wicket-taker alongside fellow left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc.
The Proteas and Black Caps pace aces will represent the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eighth edition of the IPL, alongside Australians Moises Henriques and David Warner, England’s Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan – and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson. Indian internationals Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Parvez Rasool and Karn Sharma, meanwhile, have also been recruited.
‘Trent has had a wonderful World Cup. He swings it both ways. In a way, we complement each other. He bowls left-arm, fast and swings a lot. But again, I am not sure who will open the attack. I believe that Sunrisers’ bowling attack is the key, even as we should not forget the formidable batting line-up with the likes of Warner and Dhawan. I am delighted to have such a bowling line-up,’ said Steyn.
‘We have Kumar, as the purple cap holder in the last edition. Praveen can swing a lot and smash around with the bat too. The spin bowling looks good, with leg-spinner Karn, who was one of the main wicket-takers last season – and off-spinner Rasool in our ranks.’
Hyderabad finished sixth in the eight-team standings in the 2014 tournament, on the back of six wins in 14 attempts. Their opening fixture of 2015 will be against former champions Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk on Saturday.
‘Like for any team looking to be the champions, consistency is the key. The batsmen are bound to come harder at the bowlers if the recent World Cup is any hint. I have a feeling that trend will spill over into the IPL this time,’ added Steyn.
‘Totals of 200-plus will be quite regular. Yes, people love to watch batsmen go after the bowlers in this format. It is all about how aggressive you are — hitting the yorker length, fast bouncers. It is all about how intimidating you are now.’
