Dubai: South Africa’s elegant batsman and prolific run-scorer for Delhi Daredevils, JP Duminy, feels the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 will return to the UAE in the future, following its successful stint here.
Answering a query from Gulf News about what it was like to play the IPL in a neutral venue, Duminy, said: “This is not the first time I have played in Dubai, but the first time in the IPL here. It has been really exciting because the crowds have created great entertainment. It was great to part of IPL here and I am sure it won’t be last time we see the IPL in the UAE. It has been a great spectacular event so far and I am sure every player enjoyed it.”
When asked whether IPL in UAE did better than when the tournament was held in his country [South Africa], Duminy said: “In the UAE, there is lot more support from the Indian perspective because it is just less than three-hour flight from India and there are also a lot of Indian supporters here as well and that was the main difference. Here, there is a different culture of support base. If you look at South Africa, you mainly had Indian supporters in Durban, where there is a massive Indian population, and that was the main difference.”
Talking about his six-hitting abilities and whether he enjoyed clearing the boundaries here, Duminy said:
“It was not about easy hitting and it is just enjoying some good form at the moment and hitting the ball nicely. I guess it the old cliche of putting in the hard work and it is coming off. Unfortunately, as a team we haven’t had the results go our way, and still it is a long way to go in the tournament with ten games left. We still have a chance and it is about bringing those performances together as a team.”
Duminy is now looking forward to the Indian leg of the event, which begins on Friday. “It is going to be good. The first four to five games are home games, so it is nice to have some home support for a change. Playing against the big IPL teams here it looked like away games for us. So it is good to have some home support and, hopefully, we can put in that big performance for the home crowd.”
Duminy feels that close matches are common in Twenty20 and winning matches is about a collective effort. “We can always say that we could have done things differently after losing a match. Taking our catches and doing thing correctly are crucial to winning games and it does not come to down to one person and it is a team effort. Everyone gave their best, but unfortunately the results did not go our way.”
