India will owe me their next Sachin

EXPRESS WAY / IPL

By DALE STEYN

I have yet to meet a professional cricketer who enjoys being rested. There may be some who understand (more than others) why it needs to happen but when the time actually comes to sit on the bench, there can be some long faces and grumpy boys.

It was my turn in the last game against Delhi and I wasn’t much different! If it means that I’m even more determined to win the next game and physically fresher then I guess it has to be justified but you hardly need to ‘rest’ from T20 cricket.

Actually, I wasn’t quite as ‘rested’ as I might have been, to be honest, because I ended up playing a game anyway although it wasn’t for the Royal Challengers.

Roelof van der Merwe and I decided to do a bit of shopping the day before the game seeing as neither of us was playing, so we hired a taxi from the hotel and set off in the direction of a mall which had been recommended to us.

Along the way we saw several games of cricket being played but one, in particular, caught our eye because it seemed very impromptu but very well organised at the same time with proper balls, bats and pads — even umpires! Yet noboby was wearing whites — just normal clothes — and probably half the guys were barefoot.

It was more than we could resist so, much to the driver’s shock we asked him to pull over so we could join in. We half wondered whether the boys would even recognise us but after about two seconds we realised that was a bit silly of us.

We played with them for at least half an hour and I don’t think they stopped smiling or chatting at any stage. They wanted me to bowl fast — so I did! I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun on a cricket field. With all the razzmatazz and money of the IPL it was a beautiful reminder of why we started playing cricket.

My only concern was for the boys when they got home that evening. As a kid I was always taught that telling lies was the naughtiest thing you could do so I could just imagine how their Dads might have given them a clip on the back of the head when they started talking about how they had faced Dale Steyn that afternoon.

Especially the kid who kept cover-driving me on the up. When he becomes the next Sachin Tendulkar then India will owe me!

courtesy: PMG

Thank you, Dale. We would be happy to owe you many many Sachins.

- CitizenSBI Blog