We are one of the hunted teams this year, says George Bailey
George Bailey led the Kings ZI Punjab team to the final last year where they lost to KKR. (Source: IPL)
He had to relinquish Australian captaincy as well as his place in the playing XI after World Cup opener but a determined George Bailey used all the available time to prepare himself for the ‘Spin Test’ that he would encounter in the upcoming IPL cricket tournament.
“I usually spend a lot of time training when I am not playing, so no issues there. But it was special to be part of a World Cup winning squad regardless of the fact I did not get to play much,” Bailey, who will be again captaining Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, told PTI on Monday.
“There were a few things I worked specifically on with Darren Lehmann (Australia coach). I knew that coming across to India, I would be playing lot of spin bowling in this (T20) format. So besides fine-tuning my T20 game, the focus was on tackling quality spinners,” Bailey said.
His chances of getting full-time ODI captaincy from the now retired Clarke was bright until a younger Steve Smith grabbed his opportunities by leading his country to a 2-0 win over India in the four-match Test series.
Now, 32-year-old himself can’t “imagine” being captain again with selectors likely to opt for Smith, who is seven years younger to Bailey.
Whatever happens with his international career, his immediate task is to ensure KXIP show the form they showed last-year.
“We obviously enjoyed the success (in World Cup) but most of the guys have shifted their focus to IPL and we will be coming across each other as opponents now.
“The big change this season will be about meeting the standards we set last year. In our first year, we surprised a lot of other teams. This year, we are one of the hunted teams.
“So it will be about handling our own expectations. As long as we are able to play what we are capable of, I think we can have some more success,” said Bailey, who has been training with the team in Pune.
He said his World Cup teammates Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson will again hold the key to team’s fortunes.
“Going into IPL, the major thing is that everyone has been playing a lot of cricket. And it looks everyone is in pretty good form.
“The regular guys (Maxwell, Johnson, David Miller) will no doubt be key again. But what was encouraging last year was the development of some of the Indian guys like Manan (Vohra), Patel (Axar) Wriddhiman Saha, Rishi Dhawan. That really complimented the star power we have.
“The opposition can assess quickly whether we rely on one or two guys though the tournament and if they do it, then we are going to find it hard to have sustained success. So it is important that perform as a unit,” added Bailey.
Source:: Indian Express
