Published 17:32 IST, September 13th 2019
We lack pure all-rounders today: Klusener on different Cricket formats
Klusener believes that because of the increasing frequency of T20 games, the concentration of cricketers has decreased leading to a very few all-rounders today
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In a wide-ranging interview, former South Africa all-rounder Lance Klusener spoke about the differences between T20 and Test Cricket, the impact that it has on players, his near future commitments, and his thoughts on Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant.
Impact of T20
Klusener believes that T20 cricket, because of its style and the increasing frequency of the games has lead to shorter concentration spans and that has impacted the skills of the cricketers. "I think in the past when the focus was more on Test cricket, you had to bowl 15-overs-a-day. The more you bowled or longer you batted, you got better at it naturally," he said.
The format has also lead to a decline in the number of natural or pure all-rounders in the game, with Ben Stokes being one of the few in today's times. Klusener, along with Jacques Kallis and England's Andrew Flintoff was a part of a golden generation of pure all-rounders, with only a few today.
Kluesner is currently in India with the South Africa squad as the white ball batting coach, but he is uncertain about his immediate future since he will go back to South Africa once the three T20Is are over and has not decided on what he will be doing next. He's pondering on whether he will come back to Delhi as a consultant for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy - which begins or will also be imparting his skills at the Bangladesh Premier League. "I had good communication with DDCA brass and I thoroughly enjoyed my time over here. It was wonderful to work with Mithun Manhas last year, who is a good friend of mine and unfortunately, not there this year," said Kluesner.
Thoughts on Rishabh Pant
Kluesner also spoke about Indian player Rishabh Pant and how he needs to manage his talent well and not get ahead of himself. Klusener has coached and mentored Pant since the former was the Delhi senior team's white-ball consultant last year.
"It would be hard for me to pinpoint but with a phenomenal talent like that, one always tends to get a bit ahead of himself. He needs to give himself time to get in and that bit of time will allow him to showcase his talent".
16:19 IST, September 13th 2019