As Delhi Capitals prepares to take on Rajasthan Royals in Dubai on Wednesday, the side will be without two of their bowling stars Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra, who are out due to injuries.
Having made his IPL debut on Sunday against the Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals’ wicketkeeper batsman Alex Carey finally got a taste of the most exciting T20 league in the world, and the Australian believes it is time for his team to ‘almost start the tournament again’ as they play the second round of matches starting on Wednesday evening when they take on the Rajasthan Royals at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Speaking ahead of the match, Carey said his team is definitely gutted due to the injuries in their camp, but are also looking forward to putting it behind them and peaking at the right time. “We have seen a fair few injuries in the short amount of time we have been here, so I don’t know what that is down to – maybe the lack of matches in the past six months. So yes, its disappointing news coming out of our camp but (we know we have) two great people (Amit Mishra & Ishant Sharma) who continue to cheer us on,” said Carey.
“But yeah, it’s exciting now – we’re halfway through the tournament, we’ve played everyone once and we had a really good result against Rajasthan last time. They’ll have Ben Stokes in their side, which will strengthen them but I also think we’ve played some outstanding cricket,” added the wicketkeeper.
“To go back to Dubai stadium, we’ve played in that stadium well so far, so it is exciting to come around and almost start the tournament again, and hopefully we can continue our form. We want to bounce back from the other night against Mumbai, so it’s a great opportunity to come out and play with freedom and hopefully get the result we want,” expressed the 29-year-old.
Analysing his team’s performances at the mid-season mark, Carey said his side has shown glimpses of outstanding cricket, but want to ensure complete performances going forward. “I think it’s nice to get wins under the belt early on in the tournament. I think now is the time to start to probably settle your team and have a run into the finals - playing your better cricket,” he said.
“You don’t want to peak too early in the tournament – I think we’ve seen glimpses of outstanding cricket, but to put a show for full 40 overs is something we’re still striving to do. And our players have at times scored runs, taken wickets, so we’re all in good form and its now about putting it together for the last seven games leading into the final. So it’s an exciting period in the tournament, we’ve had a look at everyone, played at all the three grounds, so it’s going to be a good opportunity starting again,” he added.
Commenting on his opponents, the left-handed batsman said, “It’s an outstanding line-up - like any other team here. They’ve all got dangerous players and you know they’ve got Buttler, Steve Smith, Stokes, Jofra as the internationals likely to play. So, a real rounded group – two leg spinners – Tewatia is of course playing really well. So it’s exciting – you’ve got two really good teams coming up against each other tomorrow night, we’ve got full confidence in our players to get the job done and play some exciting cricket.”
Asked about which match he’s enjoyed the most in his debut season, Carey said the Super Over win against KXIP has been the most exciting. “I think my first game of the tournament – you can’t look past it. That was my first experience at an IPL game although I didn’t play – to just sit on the side-lines and you know see the ebbs and flows of the game was just incredible. My fingernails have just grown back from that one, so yeah that was a pretty amazing game of cricket, and again, you want to win those close ones in this sort of a tournament and we were lucky enough to do that, but let’s not have too many close ones like that,” he signed off.
