Reprinted from Guyana Times
By Akeem Greene
Pakistani all-rounder Sohail Tanvir who had stints with the St. Lucia Zouks and the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the past believes the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is a tournament any professional cricketer would want to play.
“I always say crowd in Caribbean and crowd in rest of the world is totally opposite side, they come here and take it as a party, they enjoy the cricket even after they enjoy themselves, the music, drinks, it is a lovely atmosphere, I think every professional would want to play CPL”, the player said in an exclusive interview with Guyana Times Sport on Thursday at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
The festival atmosphere is not the only reason Tanvir is of the view that cricketers would want to play in the “Biggest Party in Sport”, since the globetrotting T20 cricketer alluded to the fact that the management of the tournament is commendable.
I think CPL is growing very nicely, of course when you start you learn as a management, I didn’t play the first one, I played in 2014 and 2015; the best thing is, the players are secure where money is concerned, salary caps are concerned, because as a professional when you go play some leagues you want to be secured you will get paid on time,” the 31 year-old said.
He added, “If you talk about cricket quality, the quality is good; of course you cannot compare it with the IPL, because the IPL [Indian Premier League] is a bigger market but as far as other things are concerned, it is beautiful.”
With the experience of 214 Twenty20 matches under his belt, Tanvir was the Warriors best buy at the players’ draft in February, racking in US$160,000 which he says gives him confidence rather than pressure to perform.
“Honestly it depends how you take it, personally I feel it will give me confidence, I started with the low price and last year I performed well and got a higher price, knowing it’s because of my performance, it will definitely give me confidence, I won’t feel any pressure; yes expectation is high when you buy a player at a high salary cap, so I will try my best to fulfill those expectations, the former purple cap winner at the first edition of the IPL explained.
The all-rounder has played 19 matches in the Caribbean League, picking up 14 wickets at an economy rate of six runs per over. However, his most memorable performance would be his 19-ball 50 playing for the St. Lucia Zouks against Barbados Tridents in 2014 which allows him to have a strike rate of 154.6.
Considering all of this exploits in the past, the player was quizzed if he can replicate those performances in the Warriors’ title quest.
“You cannot guarantee results , what you guarantee is your effort, your commitment towards the team, I believe as a professional it is your duty to give 100% for your team and sometimes you will get good results and sometimes you don’t but as an individual you must be satisfied that you put it all out”, Tanvir responded.
He further stated, I will definitely try to lead the attack and be the best bowler of the tournament!”.
Home advantage
“I played here before against the Amazon Warriors and as far as the pitch is concerned, it is a bit on the slower side… I think it suits me a lot because I’m a bowler who has different variations; with the newer ball I try to swing it, with the older ball I try to use my cutters which I think are ideal for these conditions and that’s why I think I have gotten success in the last two seasons of CPL” the marquee explained in regards to the conditions at Providence.
The Warriors play four home matches and the cricketer believes the management got the correct combination for the matches.
He said, “Overall as a bowling unit, we got three to four spinners, I think the coaching staff and management knew about our fixtures and that we would play four home games and they selected the team accordingly, every area is covered so it’s about applying yourself now.”
In his overall assessment of the camp thus far he said, “the atmosphere is very good, the guys are working hard with the coaching staff and putting lots of effort in though the weather is a bit dicey; at the moment we are gelling together because we have players like me, [Adam] Zampa, [Martin] Guptill; players from different cultures, so it is good we have time to know each other and gel together.”
CPL in the United States
This year six matches will played in the Florida and already the consensus is that is a great move for the expansion of the sport.
Tanvir firmly concurred with the idea of having matches played in the United States, stating, “I think it is a beautiful idea; definitely a good step in terms of promoting cricket in the USA, as a cricketer I would want the game to spread worldwide like football, so it’s a good step taken by CPL and I would hope it would help promote cricket in USA.” ([email protected])
