Kolkata: Isuru Udana, the crafty Sri Lankan medium pacer, proved to be an extremely wise buy for Royal Challengers Bangalore in his debut Indian Premier League in the UAE. The 32-year-old proved to be their go-to bowler at the death - and Udana is looking to bring in his varied skills as the icon player for Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10 League starting next week.
“The Abu Dhabi T10 will be a fun tournament. We can enjoy a lot. The T10 format is especially a bit hard for bowlers, but it will be enjoyable. I am really excited to be part of the Bangla Tigers family and I can’t wait to join the players and start playing with them,” said the white ball specialist.
The Sri Lankan will be up against West Indian legend Chris Gayle when his side faces Team Abu Dhabi in the tournament. “Whenever you have to face the ‘Universe Boss’, you have to execute your plans very well - so I am just thinking about my plans and I want to execute them well.”
The wiry Udana, who has an excellent bowling average of 25.17 in T20s, said that he is looking forward to playing with Andre Fletcher in the Abu Dhabi T10, “We have a good team. I am waiting to play alongside Andre Fletcher (West Indies). I have seen him perform well in the Big Bash League. There are a lot of good players in the other teams as well and this is going to be a great tournament for all of us.”
Asked to name his best players in white ball cricket, Udana had no hesitation in naming Indian captain Virat Kohli as the best batsman in the world, “I think the best batsman in white ball cricket is Virat Kohli, best bower I’ll go for Mitchell Starc and I like Ravindra Jadeja an all-rounder.”
It has not been an easy time for any sportsperson since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. Udana said that one has to be back one’s strength during this difficult period.
“It’s not easy to do our gym and running sessions during a pandemic since we can’t go out every now and then. I think during this time, one has to believe in oneself and back one’s strength. That’s the main thing. The best advice I would like to give to upcoming players is that they should try to enjoy the game. And the other advice I can give is that they should try to execute their plans well,” signed off Udana.
The fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 League will be held from January 28-February 6 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi with the organisers waiting for a directive from the administration on green signal for a certain percentage of fans.
