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The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season is kicking off on March 31, and all the teams are working through the paces to get themselves ready in time. One of these sides are the two-time IPL champions KKR, who will be without their skipper Shreyas Iyer. In his absence, Nitish Rana will be the captain but he will have the leadership of New Zealand's Test skipper Tim Southee in their midst.
The veteran pacer, who joined the team ahead of IPL 2022, spoke to Sports Tak in an exclusive interview. Here are the excerpts from the interview.
Q1. what are your aims with KKR and from the upcoming IPL season?
A1. I think every team comes here to try and win the tournament. So for us, it's about going out and playing our best cricket and giving ourselves a chance to win as many games as we can.
Q2. How has the journey of captaining New Zealand in Test cricket been so far?
A2. it's still reasonably new, three series as captain and it's been enjoyable. I love Test cricket and to have the honour of captaining New Zealand has been pretty special. I worked very closely with Kane over the last few years and before that Brendon (McCullum) when he was captain so not too dissimilar to what we've been doing as a leadership group.
Q3. What do you want from the pace brigade of KKR?
A3. iF you look at the whole bowling attack there's a variety across. you've got guys that can bowl fast like Lockie Ferguson, Umes Yadav, and Harshit, who played a couple of games in 2022. Then you got guys like Andre Russell who can chip in and two very good mystery spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine. Shardul Thakur is also a very skilful bowler.
So, as a bowling unit, we cover most areas and it's just exciting to be a part of it and I'm looking forward to is working alongside these guys.
Q4. The ODI World Cup is coming to India and you are playing IPL in India as well. How beneficial is this for you and the other players who are playing the IPL in India this year?
A4. I think anytime you can gain experience in these conditions, it's invaluable. So, I think all the guys from the different countries around the world will be part of the ODI World Cup later in the year. It will be another opportunity to gain experience in these conditions.
Q5. KKR have not won the title for many years. What are the points that KKR need to follow to win the IPL title once again?
A5. We haven't won the title but we were in the final two years ago. They have come close in recent years but I think being back and having a home ground like Eden Gardens adds to the feeling. Hopefully, that along with playing in front of our fans here and in Kolkata. So it's always exciting to turn up at. IPL is always, always exciting and hopefully, Kolkata can do well in this one.
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