New Delhi: A fit-again Ross Taylor is confident of playing for Delhi Daredevils for the entire fifth season of the IPL, but feels the team management will have some tough decisions to make on its overseas players when Australian opener David Warner returns from the West Indies. Taylor is aware that with the presence of Mahela Jayawardene and Kevin Pietersen in the set-up, it will not be easy to fit in among the four foreign players, but he had no complaints.
"When Warner gets here from the West Indies, it will be a difficult choice for the team management, but the team is doing really well right now and the local players too have done well," said Taylor after a practice session at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Friday. The New Zealand captain, however, felt it was good to be spoilt for choices and it would serve the team well if players were fighting for one spot. "It's good to have four or five international players vying for one spot than having four automatic selections for overseas players in the team.”
Taylor fractured his left arm during the third Test against South Africa. He was hit by his Delhi team-mate Morne Morkel and missed the team's opening three matches of IPL 5. Taylor said he would be available for Delhi's next match, slated to take place on April 16 against Mumbai Indians. "I can play now and will be available for selection for Delhi's next game; it's up to the team management from here on in."
"A bit of stiffness is there. I had my stitches taken off on Thursday and I am really happy to be here. I am 95 percent fit and looking forward to playing for Delhi. This will be my third different team after playing for Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the earlier editions.”
The big-hitting batsman was thankful to have have recovered so quickly and felt that surgery allowed him to make a swift comeback to cricket. "I don't think I would have been able to play here if I didn't have the operation. I believe the surgery helped. I am fortunate to have recovered so quickly in comparison to some other people."
Taylor, 28, has been rated as one of the best finishers in the shortest version of the game, and he felt that his ideal batting slot in a Twenty20 side would be No. 4 or 5. "I can bat at any position but ideally, I like the No. 4 or 5 slots in a batting line-up. That gives you a chance to finish matches. I have batted there for Rajasthan and would prefer doing that for Delhi Daredevils too."
Taylor recently took over the reins of captaincy for his national side and felt that playing under Virender Sehwag and Jayawardene would bode well for him as it would be a great learning experience. "Mahela is already famous for his captaincy and [I am] looking forward to playing with Viru (Sehwag) and Mahela, considering I am new to international captaincy. I have the opportunity to learn some team tactics from them. It will be a good way to get ready for the Twenty20 World Cup, which will be held in Sri Lanka in September. Spin becomes lot more prevalent in these conditions and we will gain a lot of experience. However, I am not really thinking about our Test series against India in August. Right now, the focus is on IPL."
Speaking about the popularity of the IPL in New Zealand, he said: "People back home don't know much about the IPL because it wasn't being broadcasted live and it was very difficult to get your hands on the replays as well. But this time I think it will be shown live, but timing is a bit of a problem though, so after two years or so I can tell you what impact it has made."
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