Mitchell McCleneghan working hard on his batting

Who would have thought before the start of this season of IPL that Sunil Narine will boast of the fastest fifty in the history of the tournament? He was not known for his batting skills and it was only in the Big Bash very recently he was promoted up the order as an opener. The Kolkata Knight Riders team management also did the same thing and after the injury to Chris Lynn, he was promoted as an opener.

In the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, the southpaw struck some exceptional shots and treated the RCB bowlers with disdain. He reached his half-century in a mere 15 deliveries and was dismissed on 54 of 17 deliveries. His whirlwind innings contained 6 fours and 4 sixes which totally took the game away from Bangalore.

After seeing KKR’s tactics working wonders, other teams might also go for the strategy as Mumbai Indians fast bowler Mitchell McCleneghan was seeing sweating it out at the nets. He batted for a long time ahead of the clash against Kings XI Punjab at the Wankhede Stadium today. The southpaw had a horrendous run with the bat in hand and has failed to get going.

“I want to keep improving my game. My batting has become better since the last couple of years and I want to prove myself to a position where as Ricky Ponting (Australian great and former MI coach) did and Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lankan great & current MI coach) did earlier this year, they have the confidence to promote me so that I can try and score quick runs.

“So, it’s a personal thing for me. I just want to prove myself and become a good No. 8 batsman in T20 cricket, where I can come out and get 20 off 8 balls,”McCleneghan was quoted as saying by Times of India. With Lasith Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah have been the spearhead of the Mumbai attack, McCleneghan has down about his job in an unfazed manner.

“My role in the side is to go and take wickets and be aggressive and try and get the key batsman out in the opposition. I bowl a lot of ‘hard overs’ when the guys are in or going to hit in the end. So, it’s important to put things in perspective,” McClengehan said while defending his high economy rate.

He concluded by saying that with the emergence of IPL and other T20 leagues all across the world, life of bowlers has become pretty difficult as they have to deal with power hitting from ball one. “If you look across the board in this IPL, there have been times people have gone for 40-plus and very good bowlers simply go for 50 or 60. That’s unheard of.

The frequency of that actually happening is far greater than the past season. It’s just the way that the game has changed, the equipment … the guys are playing with a lot less fear, youngsters come in and swing from ball one, it is getting harder, you have to keep backing yourself and adapting as we always do,” the left-arm pacer said.