From accepting captaincy for the first time at the age of 35 to the ILT20 giving opportunities to young players, skipper Colin Munro opened up in a candid chat.
ILT20 2023 table-toppers Desert Vipers have been very impressive with their performances this season and a lot of the credit for their displays must go to their skipper Colin Munro, who despite not having much franchise experience when it comes to captaincy, has led the team with aplomb.
While discussing about donning the captaincy hat in a candid interview, a 35-year-old Munro said: “To be honest, I was a bit shocked at first because I’ve never been asked to lead a franchise before, but when I was given the opportunity, I thought ‘yeah, why not? Better now than never’.”
“Towards the end of my career, I’m always looking to give back to the environment and what better now than to lead as a captain, to get the best of players around me. I was a little shocked, but after a couple of days, I told Vipers I’d love to take the opportunity,” the New Zealand batter said.
Munro also made his goals with the team in the ongoing tournament clear. “We’re obviously set out the tournament as a new franchise, as a new team, and we’re trying to make it to the final, and we’re on our way there. We want to have big games coming up, so we’re in a good position so far,” he said.
Munro then described his relationship with head coach James Foster and Director of Cricket Tom Moody. “Moody has been around for a long time. He knows everything about cricket. You know you’re not going to win every game. As captain, you sort of live and breathe every ball. So when there’s a lot of change, it’s your problem because you have put them on to bowl. You can’t do that, you’re just going to charge ahead as you can with these guys because they’re giving me the freedom to go out there and just make some calls,” the New Zealander revealed.
“So it’s easy working with those two (James Foster and Tom Moody) because they’re very experienced and the rest of the coaching staff are, you know, coaches in their own regard too. So there’s a lot of brains coming to the party,” he added.
As far as his teammates go, Munro was effusive in his praise for star batter Alex Hales, who has set the tournament ablaze and is the leading run-scorer in ILT20 2023. “He’s just scored five (four) fifties in a row and a hundred there as well, so he’s batting really well, he’s in a really good headspace,” he said.
“To be mentally fresh when he comes into cricket (is good), so you know long may that continue for us. But it’s awesome to see the gears he’s going through. It’s not always just bang, bang bang. He’s going through the gears and making sure he’s back in most games,” Munro added on Hales’ run in the ILT20 league.
Hales’ form aside, Munro was quick to laud the entire backroom staff that has contributed to the team’s success. “Everyone has been unbelievable. From the background staff, going back to people in the commercial office, guys doing the media stuff, everyone that’s part of the family. And that’s a very easy way to throw around when you play franchise cricket. But this is good because everybody feels very welcomed, whether you’re playing or not, everybody is put into the pot and grows this team and franchise in the game,” he asserted.
When asked to explain about the potential of the ILT20, Munro said: “I think you see, obviously on a bigger scale, teams like in India, in the IPL. Since the IPL has come, cricket has gone to another level. Hope this (tournament) can do the same. We can see some serious talent around this area.”
While discussing the impact of the local players from the UAE, he said, “Rohan Mustafa is bowling some real crucial overs for us and batting at the top of the order… We've got Sheraz (Ahmad) who can bowl death and we’ve also got Ali Naseer as well. We probably thought he wouldn’t play, but he is. He is in the mix, and he has got a lot of cricket ahead of him being a youngster but they can bat and bowl, and are big hitters.”
“I think hopefully it’s got room to grow and the UAE players are learning from the experiment, but they can still bat and bowl and get us, so hopefully it’s got room to grow and make sure the UAE players are learning from the experience and just make sure that they’re actually taking a lot out of it, rather than just coming to training, asking questions, seeing the players how to get better,” Munro further explained.
While confessing that the Vipers have had the easiest run in terms of games, Munro said that some of their games were coming in “thick and fast”, but for them, it is all about using the squad well.
Looking forward to the remaining league stage games, Munro seems focused although he wouldn’t be surprised with a change in the dynamic of the teams. “We’ve obviously got two games in Sharjah which is a little bit of a travel, so for us it’s using the squad mainly. And I think all the teams have some new players coming in, but that adds a bit of a different dynamic to their teams,” he stressed.
“We stayed in with our team, got Luke Wood as the replacement, but he comes in for a lot of players. It’s interesting to see how the other teams go about bringing in their players. Sometimes it can work out, sometimes it can backfire,” Munro concluded.
