ICC World T20: Shane Watson confident about his return for the tournament
Australian all-rounder Shane Watson is confident that he will be fit to play the World T20 in India despite an abdominal strain injury which he picked up during Pakistan Super League (PSL). The injury ended his campaign in this year’s PSL.
Watson suffered the injury while bowling for Islamabad United in the United Arab Emirates and immediately withdrew from the tournament to fly home to Sydney for medical tests.
In a recent interview after the injury, he said, “It’s going to take me a couple of weeks to get back into batting and bowling. We got it before it did too much damage.”
The 34 year-old also told that the injury was not a major one and that he is very confident to compete in the World T20. He said: “I’m very confident I’ll be right for the World Cup. That’s still three or four weeks away ... It’s not like a side strain or anything like that. If everything goes to plan, I’ll be right.”
Throughout Watson’s 14-years-long international career, his fitness has been under the microscope. A succession of soft tissue injuries have robbed him of time in the middle in recent seasons.
Trying to bowl a slower ball resulted in Watson’s injury
Watson put the blame of his latest injury down to a slower delivery and playing three matches on successive days in the PSL's compressed three-week schedule.
He said, "I tried to bowl a slower ball but put too many revs on it and it twinged a bit".
Having retired from test cricket after being dropped after the Ashes series opener in England, Watson was overlooked for the one-day international series against India last month. He also had an average Big Bash T20 tournament for the Sydney Thunder and his selection in the World T20 squad seemed improbable a few weeks ago.
However, he found form at the right time to be picked for the home T20 series against India where he blasted a century in the third and final match in Sydney. He was also given the responsibility to lead the side in the same match after Aaron Finch was forced to miss the match through injury.
Watson was subsequently picked in the squad for the World T20 and he also brings a vital experience as he is thorough with conditions in the subcontinent being an enthusiastic Indian Premier League veteran. He also drew the highest bid of Rs. 9.5 crore at the IPL auctions earlier this month from Royal Challengers Bangalore.
He concluded, “The T20 selection felt like the added bonus on top of what had happened for the previous six weeks”.