{"id":231715,"date":"2025-02-04T16:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T16:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/04\/certainly-a-great-tournament-to-be-a-part-of-lockie-ferguson-on-ipl-cricket-news-the-times-of-india\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T16:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T16:51:11","slug":"certainly-a-great-tournament-to-be-a-part-of-lockie-ferguson-on-ipl-cricket-news-the-times-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/04\/certainly-a-great-tournament-to-be-a-part-of-lockie-ferguson-on-ipl-cricket-news-the-times-of-india\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Certainly a great tournament to be a part of’: Lockie Ferguson on IPL | Cricket News – The Times of India"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"‘Certainly<\/div>


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Lockie Ferguson. (File Pic – Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Speed is Lockie Ferguson\u2019s trademark. His bowling is among the quickest in the world, and even his captaincy career has taken off with velocity. Ferguson led New Zealand against Bangladesh for three ODIs in September 2023, but it is as leader of the Desert Vipers in ILT20 2025 that his captaincy has really come to the fore.
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For the first time in the ILT20, the Vipers have ended the league stage at the top of the table, with 7 wins in 10 games. They will now go into the playoffs with two chances at making the final. At the end of the league stage of the ILT20, Ferguson spoke to the media on a range of topics including his captaincy experience, the IPL<\/a>, and even the 2019 World Cup. Excerpts:<\/span>
On his leadership experience with the Desert Viper<\/span>s
Joining this group, it was very easy for me. They\u2019ve done a lot of work in the previous years in building a great environment for players to play in. The coaching staff with Moods (Tom Moody<\/a>) and Fossy (James Foster<\/a>) and Maka (Neil McKenzie) and Crowy (Carl Crowe) have really created an environment where players are enjoying their cricket.
With that, they\u2019ve obviously signed some pretty experienced players which certainly makes my job a lot easier. When we\u2019re talking about bowling plans and guys have played in these conditions a lot before, or similar conditions back home and understand what works best here and make quick adjustments. So from my point of view, it\u2019s been nice to join this group and try to add value where I see fit and also try to encourage guys to express their strengths. I really enjoyed the support that I\u2019ve had from not only the coaching staff but also the players. <\/p>\n

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‘Still back the boys 100%’: Lockie Ferguson’s message after Desert Vipers’ loss to Dubai Capitals<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On RCB\u2019s IPL 2024, where they came back from the dead to qualify for the playoffs<\/span>
Certainly a great tournament to be a part of. A tough start for the team that year. At times we were only losing by little margins here and there. We know in the IPL how small moments can change the whole game. Probably really hard to nail down exactly what it was, but certainly from my point of view, learning from Faf (du Plessis) and Andy (Flower) about how they managed that situation\u2026 Great learning and understanding of, you know when a team is struggling, how to control the environment, and how to encourage players.
You\u2019re just learning as quickly as possible from the last game. Also try to read other games and see what is working that year. I think for fast bowlers and bowlers in general, the IPL last year was pretty challenging. A lot of runs were scored. So adjustments needed to be made. And sometimes, they\u2019re just small adjustments that actually build pressure from both ends.
We managed to find a bit of a formula with the team last year into the backend. You can see how just a small bit of confidence can change a team. But again, I don\u2019t think that just happened by chance. It was certainly led by Faf. His demeanour throughout the competition was very similar: whether we were losing or winning didn\u2019t matter. He\u2019s a very even leader.
Virat (Kohli) was the same. The conversation teams were having in the changing rooms were controlled. We knew that we were short in a few areas at the start of the competition, and then we tried to adjust them and managed to do that and had some success and just rolled with it.
Teams I\u2019ve played in the past have ridden the emotions too much. It\u2019s very difficult to go deep into the tournament (if you do that), because we know the game of cricket throws plenty of curveballs at you, and sometimes it\u2019s out of your control. But it\u2019s also why the game is so exciting because it can change at any point.
There\u2019s a lot to learn. I\u2019ve been privileged in my career to play under some great captains, and I think there are some similarities in their demeanour when things are going well and when things are tough.
On linking up with <\/span>Ricky Ponting<\/a> as part of Punjab Kings for IPL 2025<\/span>
I had Ricky with Washington Freedom, which was really exciting. He comes with such a high pedigree of cricket skill, and also his leadership and his knowledge around the game. It\u2019s nice to talk to batters about what I\u2019m thinking in the bowling sense in the moment, and then get feedback from them.
The best thing about these franchise tournaments is, I grew up watching Ricky and thinking how incredible he is and now I get the opportunity to talk to him about cricket and what I think works and how he thinks my skill-sets fit into it. He\u2019s obviously a keen golfer as well, so hopefully I\u2019ll get a few fore-balls with him and can talk some golf and cricket at the same time! But yeah, really looking forward to joining him in a month or so.
On the fast bowlers\u2019 fraternity<\/span>
I\u2019ve had some great conversations with Mohammad Amir<\/a>, who has had so much experience in this part of the world. It\u2019s nice to talk to him about how he builds his overs, understands when it\u2019s time to attack and when it\u2019s time to defend and get out of the over.
It\u2019s a very special fraternity, the fast bowlers\u2019 fraternity. We\u2019re happy to share with each other even if we\u2019re not playing in the same team, which I think is awesome. It\u2019s something I really try to tap into and certainly when I\u2019m talking with young fast bowlers, I\u2019m more than happy to pass on the knowledge that I have learned.
On the remarkable returns he\u2019s had in the past year (T20 economy of 7.00 and average of 16.8, against career figures of 7.7 and 22.4)<\/span>
It\u2019s nice to have some good games. I\u2019m just constantly trying to get better and trying to learn from other fast bowlers and coaches about my game and trying to make small adjustments. Constantly trying to deliver the ball differently and trying to deceive the batters in different ways. It\u2019s such a fast-moving sport, and if you\u2019re not moving forward, you can get left behind. You can see in this competition (the ILT20) how skilled the batters are, and how quickly they\u2019re learning to play on the wickets that we\u2019ve been playing on.
It’s been nice to have some good results in the last year, but probably more so than that I\u2019ve been part of some really awesome teams. RCB was a great franchise to play for. I was with Sydney Thunder, and they just came short in the final (in BBL 2024-25). Huge turnaround for that group of players and a really enjoyable group to play with it.
And then the Desert Vipers, it\u2019s been so nice to just fit into the group. We\u2019ve got such a great environment here and you can see why players are wanting to succeed. Obviously, we know the Black Caps is an awesome environment to play in too. We won the championship with the Washington Freedom (in MLC 2024). I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a fluke that I\u2019ve had success because the environment those teams created allowed players to express themselves with confidence, and enjoy playing the game.
On the 2019 World Cup<\/span>
I still have fond memories of the 2019 World Cup, even though it didn\u2019t quite go our way in the end. But those couple of months were a big turning point in my career I think from a confidence point of view. Just how far our team went\u2026 you know we weren\u2019t regarded as a top team in that tournament and we managed to make it to the final and whatever happened, happened. But I still look back on it very fondly from my personal growth and learning about the game. It was nice to have a little bit of success there. I\u2019ve been fortunate that I\u2019ve been part of some pretty successful teams. Hopefully, this week I\u2019ll be able to say there was a great memory from this week.<\/div>\n