Chennai, Feb 16: New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris, playing his third World Cup, spoke to the media ahead of the warm-up game against India at Chepauk. The veteran cricketer spoke about the importance of being able to play spin well in the sub-continent and the Black Caps’ batting line-up.
Excerpts from the chat
On the atmosphere in India
It’s a great place to tour these days - the hotels, the grounds [are] all top quality. So it’s not a hardship to be here in any case. I think if you enjoy your time here you certainly play better cricket and that’s what we intend to do.
On whether shots like the sweep would be the order of the day as opposed to big hits, as the practice sessions indicate
I don’t think you can blanket one particular shot but playing spinners here in this tournament will be crucial. How you go about that is up to the player but I don’t think you can tell people to play just one sweep shot or just dab. So everybody’s just finding the best way to play and I would like to think that we all play differently. As long as you play spin well I think you will be fine.
On the prospect of enjoying a complete World Cup in contrast to his injury-curtailed showing in the 2007 edition
Yeah, I have always done quite well in the World Cup so I would like to do that again. I think it’s a good opportunity for [each of] the players to stand up and be the guy to win the game. We’ve got a batting order that is full of talent – we’ve just got to make sure that we perform.
