As he waits for his chance with Gujarat Titans, seasoned pace-bowling all-rounder Jason Holder of the West Indies says he has moved past expecting things to “fall into my lap” and that worrying about selection “consumes a lot of unnecessary energy” for him.
The 34-year-old, who signed a Rs 7-crore contract to return to the IPL after two seasons, has so far gone unnoticed as the team continues to use Jos Buttler, Rashid Khan, Glenn Phillips, and Kagiso Rabada.
However, after GT’s 99-run humiliation at the hands of the Mumbai Indians on Monday at their home ground in Ahmedabad, a reconsideration may be prompted by Holder’s offer to bowl both during the power play and at the end, as well as to wear a finisher’s hat with the bat.
The tall Bajan discussed staying focused on being prepared for a call-up rather than becoming sidetracked by outside distractions related to selection in an exclusive interview with PTI.
“For us, getting consumed with when to play, or who’s to play, or if not to play, or if this person should be playing or not… to me, it just consumes a lot of unnecessary energy,” PTI quoted Holder as saying.
“Your job as an individual player is to be ready — just come in and do a job for the team when called upon. The rest of it is in our hands.”
“So I wouldn’t even get sucked into who should play, or where we should be working, or who should bat or bowl. It’s just more or less about what is required for us as a team to win.”
“Look, whatever position I’m needed in is ideal for me,” he responded when asked about his ideal batting position.
“Gone are the days when I would think that things will fall into my lap the way I want them to be… So for me, it’s more or less about adjusting to what the team needs and getting the job done. Me, personally, I came here to play.”
“And yeah, whenever I do get an opportunity, I really want to grab it with both hands and enjoy it — enjoy the experience — and help this team to win.”
On his preparedness with the ball, he said: “I’ve been bowling four overs my whole career, so I don’t see it being anything different. But again, whatever the team needs, I’m just ready to bowl, come in and do a good job for them.”
“Your job as an individual player is to be ready… Just come in and do a job for the team when called upon. The rest of it is in our hands.”
“So I wouldn’t even get sucked into who should play, or where we should be working, or who should bat or bowl. It’s just more or less about what is required for us as a team to win.”
GT suffered a batting collapse while chasing 200 against MI, and their hitters came in for a lot of criticism before being bundled out for 100.
Before their away game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday, the Shubman Gill-led team has now fallen outside of the top five. Their net run rate (-0.821) is the second poorest in the rankings, only ahead of Kolkata Knight Riders (-0.879).
“It’s hard losing any cricket game. Obviously, we had a tough loss last night… a pretty big defeat. But the only direction that we can go from here is up. We’ve had some really good discussions in the dressing room around how we can get better and the things that we need to do to improve.”
Ashok Sharma, a 23-year-old rookie bowler for Rajasthan, has been outstanding this season with his 150kph thunderbolts. He is someone to keep an eye on in the long run, according to Holder.
“To see a young bowler come in and bowl at 145 kmph consistently… Ashok has been one of those guys who has really impressed me on that front.”
“He’s got pace, and beyond his pace is his skill… You see his slower balls, you see he’s able to nail the yorkers, and over a period of time, he’ll gain experience, he’ll gain knowledge and understand when to bowl his deliveries at the best time.”
“I’m really excited to see his progress. I think he’s one to watch out for. If he remains fit and remains hungry, I think he can definitely go places.”
“You can’t train pace. You either have pace or you don’t have pace and to sustain it without being injured for a very long time is difficult.”
“So he’s got a natural gift for being quick, but he’s added some skills as well. So, I guess with more experience and more knowledge about the game, I expect pretty good things from him.”
After a dismal start to the season with the Lucknow Super Giants with scores of 8, 1, 13, 19, 1, and 9 in his six innings, he further encouraged his former Windies teammate Nicholas Pooran to turn things around.
“In life, everything isn’t really aligned the way we want it to be. He’s obviously had a slow start to this year’s IPL, but look, we’re still not even halfway through the tournament yet.
“So I expect somebody like him to really bounce back and come back really strong, because we all know what he can do when he gets going.
“So it’s a matter for him to just stay true to himself, try not to panic, try not to get too consumed with what’s going on. We know that a player of his calibre will deliver. He definitely will deliver.”
The talented WI player quit international cricket last year at the age of 29 to pursue a career as a full-time freelancer, which caused controversy. However, Holder declined to comment.
“You ran into territory that I don’t really want to get into. That’s beyond me.”
