Lucknow Super Giants’ pacer Andrew Tye feels that as a bowler in T20 cricket, one can’t afford to have any sort of ego.
Tye, who won the 2018 IPL purple cap while representing Punjab Kings (formerly Kings XI Punjab), went unsold in the mega auction but was later drafted by Lucknow Super Giants ahead of IPL 2022 as a replacement for injured England pacer Mark Wood.
“There is no room to have an ego as a bowler in T20 cricket. You can perfectly execute the delivery you were after and somehow it finds a way to go to the boundary. You just gotta take those tough overs on and believe you can do it,” said Tye in a pre-match chat with broadcasters Star Sports.
“Some days it comes off and some days it doesn’t and it’s all part and parcel of the game. Every game, you analyze and try to figure out where you can get better or do stuff differently. Then, add the information in the bank so that when you go out next time, you are more equipped. Just trying to keep growing with the game,” added Tye ahead of Lucknow’s match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at DY Patil Stadium.
In the last couple of years, Tye has transformed himself as a death overs specialist due to the variety of slower balls and yorkers. But, as per Tye, the transformation wasn’t easy to begin with.
“I started to lose my way a little bit. My pace used to be up around 140kmph and then I started hitting a maximum of about 135kmph and then luckily my bowing coach (Matt Mason) back home, I trusted him to change my action and make some changes for the better. At first, I told him to get lost as it was never going to work trying to change my action as a 33-year old then was probably career suicide.”
Tye, though, stuck around and made certain changes to his action which have benefitted teams in T20 cricket, just like Perth Scorchers were beneficiary of it in their run to Big Bash League (BBL) trophy in 2021/22.
“But luckily I went around and tried it and just sort of extended my arm path from my load up moving it out towards the batsman rather than straight down. You will be able to find that difference in the footage of my old action and my new action. Hopefully, you can see the difference.”
Tye signed off by saying that he’s trying to keep himself updated with the fast-evolving world of bowling in T20 cricket. “Trying my best every time I go out there, the game is always changing and moving at different paces. So, trying to keep up with that or even stay ahead sometimes is what I try to do.”
