T20WC 2020: South Africa's Dale Steyn keen to play the T20 World Cup in Australia

Steyn hasn't made any international T20 appearance in last three years.

Dale Steyn  | GETTY

South Africa's veteran pacer Dale Steyn is aiming for the T20 World Cup at the end of this year in Australia. He is looking forward to guiding the young Proteas pacer in the side.

The speedster hasn't made any T20I appearances for the last three years because of injury. He is picked for the T20I clash against England and will get in the action at Buffalo Park on Wednesday.

Steyn decided to quit the Test cricket to focus on limited-overs cricket, and now his only goal is to sustain till the upcoming World Cup.

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“With Test cricket, the workload was too much as I want to extend my career for as long as I can,” Steyn told reporters on Tuesday.

“In Test cricket, you can bowl 20 overs in a day, that is five T20s, so it was a smart decision. I love playing cricket, right now I wake up every morning and I can’t see myself doing anything else.

“As long as the desire is still there to play at the highest level, to get batters out and out-smart them … once I have decided I don’t want that I will walk away.”

Steyn's pace was affected after shoulder injuries. But the pacer has looked to find different ways of getting the batsmen out.  "I want to keep experimenting and trying to change my game,” he said. “If I’m only going to play one more match I want to take a wicket with every ball, not try and defend a boundary.”

The 36-year-old knows his responsibility being a senior member of the side. “This is a young group of players and my role is to orchestrate the bowling attack a little bit,” Steyn said. “I want to stand at mid-off and say to the bowler, ‘what are you thinking?’ and hopefully they can learn and get better.

“You want to win every game, obviously, but right now it is more about learning. If we win the World Cup, nobody is going to care if we lost to England in February.”

(WITH PTI INPUTS)

 
 

By Sihyeu Singh - 12 Feb, 2020

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