Brett Lee Waiting to Fire
Another Aussie, another love affair with India. Brett Lee, who sings a Hindi tune with Asha Bhonsle, eats butter chicken and hops on to a flight to India on any excuse, is looking forward to play his third season with the Kings XI Punjab team.
Trump Card
IPL starts soon and with it, the Chandigarh franchise’s hope of a title. Punjabis believe in the same things Brett does – bowl fast, hard and win. The Lions from Punjab feel they had near misses and now have the combination right.
The Best Play the Best
Brett has made his decision to retire from Test cricket. Included in the Australian list of 30 for the Twenty20 World Cup which will take place less than two months from now, he wants to launch himself again after injury. And what better stage, he reckons, than the IPL – a show where the best meet the best and players of different ethnicities combine in a ferocious display of skills and power.
What Injury?
Brett is no stranges to injury. He has had at least four major injuries in his career of over a decade but believes that these helped him understand how to cope with one. Therefore, he is all set to blaze back instead limping into the arena; sure, the build-up will be gradual but this wounded lion can be dangerous anyhow. Punjab, and India, loves him.
Lightning Crusader
‘Binga’ deserves more praise than this land of charmers gives him. To bowl consistently at more than 150 Kph over a decade prompted some veteran cricketers to say that he’s the Shane Warne of pace bowlers. One remarked, “We keep a standard index of a player’s contribution and pat him on the back for ten years at the top. But nobody understands what it takes from express pace bowlers when compared to batsmen, spin or medium pace bowlers, or wicket keepers.” Career-threatening injuries have done little to shake the spirit of this Aussie. A change of bowling action in the early 2000s, hard work and an iron will have allowed him to come back every time to haunt batsmen.
In the Groove
Brett’s bowling in the Kings XI Punjab preparatory camp shows just how ready he is. Stepping off the plane for his first nets session and practising bowling to the stumps, he made a hit with five out of six curving deliveries. This typical Aussie accuracy combined with the boundless spirit of the Punjabi land is bound to bring out the best in him.
