Agency
KOLKATA: Hero of West Indies’ World Twenty20 title triumph, Carlos Brathwaite on Saturday said that he is privileged to share the dressing room with his idol Rahul Dravid, the mentor of Delhi Daredevils in this season of IPL. “I find myself privileged enough to be working along with someone I have idolised all my career and that is Rahul Dravid. We had a couple of chats and it is good to hear from him as a person and as a player on what are the areas that I would look to improve on in terms of playing spin and I spoke to Rahul about,” Brathwaite said on the eve of Delhi Daredevils IPL opener against Kolkata Knight Riders here.
The 27-year-old said he hoped to return home as a better player. “I hope that at the end of six weeks I go back to the West Indies with better understanding of how to play spin bowling, how to rotate it, how to score off it and how to take that knowledge from the IPL back to the West Indies,” he said.
The same strip where he had hit four sixes on a row to win the WT20 would be on offer for the match here tomorrow but Brathwaite said it’s a different proposition. “If you look at it as a psychological advantage then it can be a disadvantage as well since it is the same ground and same fans but at the same time is a completely different tournament, different game and a different team with different set of oppositions that deserve respect. We need to react to what is done on the day as opposed to try and live in the past and hoping it happens again,” he insisted.
He said it was up to the Delhi Daredevils think-tank to give him a suitable role in the team.
“It is something that the Delhi Daredevils require of me and which I would want to do for them. I would want to come on top and if that requires me hitting one six or doing it by singles, I am prepared to do that for the franchise. “I honestly believe you always have something to prove. If you are the defending champions, then next year you have to prove that it wasn’t a fluke. If you weren’t doing well before, then you have to prove that you are good enough to be here. I don’t want to say that we will take the past and use it as strength but together as a team we are aware that we didn’t have a good recent past. Asked about his preferred batting order, he said: “I will bat wherever the team requires and if the team decides that they need to use me at a particular number then I need to adapt to that position and do the best I can for my team. If the situation asks me to bat in the same way that I do for the West Indies then I also need to adapt to that and do what I need to do. It is about adapting all the time to make sure that the Daredevils come out on top in each and every game.” Attributing his success to his big-hitting teammates — Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo — Brathwaite said: “Just being able to watch those guys train and prepare and the way they pick themselves up from bad performance and enjoy the good performances was a lesson for me. It was a pleasure to be in their presence and I just hope that I can take what I learn and match it with what I know already.(PTI)
