T10 format is thrilling and exciting, suits me, says Pollard

West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard, who has scored over 10,000 runs in the T20 format, has expressed that the T10 format suits his style of cricket.

“The thrill and excitement of T10 is limitless. But it’s actually not too dissimilar to the kind of cricket I grew up playing. It’s not about see ball hit ball. You need to be able to think on your feet, anticipate and execute plans without pausing too much. It suits me to be honest and my experience stands me in good stead when reading the opposition,” Pollard said ahead of the Abu Dhabi T10 beginning Jan.28 where he will be leading Deccan Gladiators.

The 33-year-old said that he is very excited to play with the likes of Sunil Narine and Imran Tahir in the upcoming season of the T10 tournament.

“I’m most excited about playing with the group that we have assembled at Deccan Gladiators. I can’t wait to go out there with match-winners like Narine, Tahir, Shahzad, Ingram, local UAE star Zahoor and others. We also have a few surprises up our sleeves for our opponents,” he said.

Gladiators team owner Gaurav Grover said his side has enough firepower to win the competition.

“The target of Deccan Gladiators this time would definitely be to win the trophy. With the changes in the helm this year, there are high expectations from the Gladiators. We have taken care of every flaw we had, which might have been the reason for last year’s defeat (in the final),” said Grover.

“We have West Indian powerhouse as our captain - Keiron Pollard and our Icon Player himself is fearless and unbounded spinner - Sunil Narine. Also, our team is packed with threatening bowlers such as fast bowler Aaron Summers and (leg-spinner) Imran Tahir. Talking about batsmen, we have Mohammad Shahzad, who is also a wicketkeeper,” he added.

Earlier, Legendary Pakistan cricketer Mudassar Nazar, who scored over 6,500 runs and took over 150 wickets in international cricket, has been appointed as the technical director for T10 Sports Management (TSM).

The former all-rounder joins T10 Sports Management just before the start of the fourth season of Abu Dhabi T10 league.

“We are in the entertainment business, whether it was 100 years ago or it’s now. If the audience is not entertained, then we don’t move an inch. Any cricketer, who is in love with the game, will love to watch any format and this is a very exciting format. If I was still playing, I would have tried this format,” said Nazar.

“I would have trained hard and probably changed my approach to the game and that is why it’s so fascinating to see players who are so good in the four-day and five-day formats and then they change their game and skill and then try and outperform people in this event,” he added.

Shaji Ul Mulk, chairman, T10 Sports Management, said, “Being one of the greats of the game, Mudassar will have a lot of valuable insights to share with us, which will be a big boost for the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament. We are looking forward to a wonderful working relationship with him.”

Not sure if I would have enjoyed playing T10, says Azharuddin

Abu Dhabi, Jan 19 (IANS) Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin is all set to take up the role of team mentor for the Northern Warriors in the upcoming season of Abu Dhabi T10 starting January 28 at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.

Azharuddin said he will be observing all the practice sessions and matches carried out by Warriors very keenly.

“I will be watching everything very keenly as the mentor of the Northern Warriors. Actually, the coach runs the team, so I will be giving advice to the players and coaches as the mentor of the team. If I find something is not up to the mark or my advice is needed for something, that’s when I will step in as a mentor,” he said.

Even though the Warriors have many star players such as Lendl Simmons and Nicholas Pooran in their side, Azharuddin made it very clear that he is not looking forward to working with only a few players.