In an ideal world, with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) possibly making better on and off field decisions, New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson wouldn't have been bowling the last over of an IPL encounter, especially not at the Chinnaswamy stadium of all places.
But he was there, facing up against the mighty dangerous MS Dhoni as he pressed on the accelerator to try and take Chennai Super Kings (CSK) home. As expected, it went horribly wrong for Anderson before Dhoni relieved him of his misery with a six to finish off in style.
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"When you uttered his name, I was about to drown myself in my coffee," the 29-year-old told Sportstar, recalling that game from IPL 2018. "He is one of the greats of the game, one of the best finishers in the world. Very difficult to bowl to him. I had Virat Kohli at long on, AB de Villiers at long off. They were continuously running in to say what do we do, what was I thinking, what should I do?"
"Even their thoughts were like ‘if you bowl here, he will hit you for a six’ and ‘if you bowl there, he will hit you for a six’. You can subdue the moment. You know that you aren’t the first one, he has done it to every bowler in the world at some point of time," Anderson added.
"Once you bowl to those guys, it gives you a massive insight to bowl to other guys. You gain confidence once you bowl to these bigger guys like Dhoni. At times, it is demoralising but it can make you a better cricketer."
Anderson, who has played 13 Tests, 49 ODIs and 31 T20Is for New Zealand, said he is now better aware of how to go about tackling such situations.
"You have to see the best bowlers in the world and how they go about it," he said. "You need to be strategic. Fast bowlers, who can bowl very fast, have an advantage. You have larger margin for error [as a batsman]."
“You can still bowl a very good ball and get hit for a six in T20 cricket. You don’t know when the batsman is going to pull the trigger and tee off. You can also get wickets off bad balls. The batsmen can make an error."
Meanwhile, Anderson also heaped effusive praise on South Africa great Dale Steyn, calling him among the toughest bowlers he has faced.
"One of the fastest bowlers I have faced is Steyn," he said. "The IPL [in 2014] was happening in Dubai. I had faced him a couple of times and I thought I understood how he goes about things but I was naive. He got me in the last ball of the over."
"I thought I had to play a shot before he gets me but I could hardly see the ball. It just went past my head; he gloved me, wicket-maiden. He made me look like an idiot, like a school kid playing international cricket. It gave me an insight into thinking that I don’t want that to happen again."
(Inputs from Sportstar)
