He was one of the unsung heroes of Kolkata Knight Riders’ turnaround in Indian Premier League’s 2021 edition, but Lockie Ferguson is looking forward to his association with Gujarat Titans, who will make their IPL debut later this month.
“Having played four seasons of the IPL, I know how big a competition it is. And how big the support is for each franchise. Whenever there is a new franchise, a new opportunity is created,” Ferguson said on Friday at a select media interaction.
“People in that area get an opportunity to support that team, which is local to them. All the teams have been spread out in the mega auction. Players have changed quite a lot throughout. So, not only us who have got a new team, but if you look around the competition, it’s going to take some adjusting for some of the teams, having new personnel.”
While Ferguson was one of the keys to success bowling in the middle, the Kiwi pacer is expectedly unsure about his role for the new franchise.
“I think with KKR, our roles were different because we had fantastic spinners who could bowl in the PowerPlay. That made us use the quicks through the middle. I am not at all saying that the Titans don’t have that by any means. It will be interesting to see what sort of game plan we have,” he said.
“But certainly, coming back into the middle overs, the batters are trying to score at six or seven an over without too much risk. The way that I bowl, it creates a bit of uncertainty and rushes them [batters], so it kind of gave me an exciting licence almost to be aggressive rather than in the PowerPlay and, of course, at the death where I am trying to shut down the batters and trying to get through my overs cheaply.”
While he admitted that he has exchanged “a few messages with Hardik (Pandya, the captain) and Ashish (Nehra, the head coach)” he was confident his role and the team strategy will be devised once he joins the squad next week.