Dubai: Alex Carey, the upcoming Australian wicketkeeper-batsman, is relishing the challenge to play on New Delhi’s ‘‘slow wickets’’ as and when the Indian Premier League 2020 happens this year.
Picked by Delhi Capitals in the auction last December, a side which made the play-offs after a long gap last year, Carey said it was time for the Ricky Ponting-coached side to build on last year’s success. “At this moment, I just want the IPL to get started, and I can’t wait for our team to build on last season’s result. I believe we have an amazing group of players in all departments and we will play some brilliant cricket when we get the chance,” Carey said during a candid Instagram live session with the franchise’s official handle.
Speaking on how prepared the players would be once the action resumes, Carey said as professionals they will be back to their best in a couple of weeks of training. “I’ve been aiming at going for a 10K run thrice a week, along with shorter sprints, which helps me in maintaining my fitness levels. I’ve also been working with a golf ball in my backyard to keep my hand-eye coordination intact.”
“As cricketers, we live, dream and breathe the sport. It has been a good experience to have a month or so off which has helped us recharge our batteries. But I feel when things open up, we will have really good cricket. It will only take a couple of weeks for us to play at the top level,” he added.
Asked about the prospect of playing in empty stadia, which is looking a growing possibility, Carey said it’s the best bet under the current circumstances. “Cricket, as we’re used to, is going to be different for a bit. There’s the T20 World Cup and the IPL that we’re all looking to play, but it’s hard to picture anything without the fans. It’s going to be a hollow feeling, but I feel the fans will atleast have some live cricket to look forward to on TV, and I can promise it’s still going to be some solid cricket which the fans are going to love,” said the left-hander.
Having started his sporting career with the Australian Rules Football, Carey switched back to playing full-time cricket and says he is lucky to have made the decision. “I had some success at AFL, but I wasn’t quite excelling. I thought I wasn’t good enough, and so I went back to cricket when I was 20 or 21. There were a couple of years I didn’t play cricket at all when I was busy with AFL, so I was rusty when I came back. But by 24, I got back into cricket and into the standard that I would’ve liked to play. I put in some hard yards, and I feel I’m really fortunate that I made that decision to play cricket because I got to represent Australia,” added Carey.
