Rajasthan Royals (RR) newest recruit Glenn Phillips, on Wednesday (September 15), said he is happy to join the franchise ahead of the second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) in the UAE, having been already playing for the Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL 2021).
On the back of his consistent batting blitz in recent times, both for New Zealand and in domestic franchise cricket around the world, Phillips was signed by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as a replacement for England’s wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler for the remainder of the IPL 2021 in the UAE.
However, the New Zealand wicketkeeper is Buttler’s replacement, but Phillips has insisted that he is a “completely different player” to English star and aims to create his own legacy with the RR rather than fill in for someone in the world’s biggest T20 extravaganza.
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Phillips said in RR’s official release: “At first, I knew there were other players ahead of me, and then with players dropping out, this opportunity came about. There were a couple of other teams who wanted me, but the fact that I was playing for the Barbados Royals already, made sense for me to go with the Rajasthan Royals. I felt it was the right decision to stay with the same franchise.”
The 24-year-old added, “The team has brought me in to do whatever role they need me to play, so it's not really like I'm filling in Jos' shoes, I'm probably filling in my own shoes and looking to create a legacy of my own rather than being a replacement.”
Phillips also said he will be happy to bat at any position wherever the team needs in IPL 14 in the UAE.
He continued, “Whether it's opening, in the middle order, bowling, keeping wickets, or wherever in the field, I'll just do whatever the team needs for me to do. I feel like I have the ability to control the pace of the game depending on what the situation is like regardless of the position I'm batting at.”
He further said, “So, if you lose wickets, I feel like I have the batsmanship to be able to take the game deep and then accelerate at the end. Having power in my game does allow me to take it deep till the end and catch up. I can give the team a fast start as well, but also play the longer innings.”
The hard-hitting right-hander signed off by saying, “From the perspective of our position on the table, being in the fifth spot is a nice little position at the moment because a couple of wins from here and we'll be well on our way to qualifying.”
(With ANI Inputs)
