New Zealand opener Colin Munro, who is one of the most destructive batsmen of the modern generation in the limited-overs game, having given up First-Class cricket to only focus on the white-ball game.
The big-hitting left-hander averages 51.58 in the red-ball game, but was never able to cement a place in Black Caps Test side, having played a single Test in January 2013 against South Africa, while he has 40 One Day Internationals and 45 T20 Internationals to his name with the national side.
Munro, who is best be known for breaking records for the fastest hundred and fifty in T20Is and was the first man to have scored 3 centuries in T20I cricket, is now eyeing to play as much as white-ball game he can in a bid to seal a place in the New Zealand squad for the 2019 ICC World Cup in England.
Recently, the 31-year-old finished as the leading run-getter in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) for his title-winning team Trinbago Knight Riders with 567 runs and now heading to the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) for the Balkh Legends to be in contention for the national selection.
As per reports in The Hindu, Munro said on Sunday (October 7), “To give up First Class cricket was a tough decision and I have been thinking about it for the last couple of years. It wasn’t easy to give up 10 years of First Class cricket and about 50 matches, but I wasn’t getting the rewards I wanted.”
The Durban-born opener further added, “I think New Zealand would play well in the conditions of England, where we have had successes in the past. England, West Indies and India too have good chances in what I think will be a hotly contested World Cup, with all teams playing one another once.”
Commenting on Afghanistan’s chances in the World Cup 2018, Munro feels that they are the one to watch out for and could turn out to be a dark horse in England next year the way they have shown their expertise in the Asia Cup 2018. Munro also believes that the APL would help Afghanistan’s cricketers greatly in international cricket.
He signed off by saying, “They have match-winners with both bat and ball, and they have shown what they could do at the recent Asia Cup. I feel the APL would help their cricketers greatly. Rubbing shoulders with some of the best cricketers in the world will be beneficial for them. And they have already begun asking me questions. And I will be happy if a couple of young Afghan cricketers gain something by working with players like me at the APL.”
(Input: The Hindu)
