Blast off! Ravi Bopara talks all things T20

24:40Nasser Hussain:We're talking the blast because obviously the blast is getting underway on Friday. And you've been ever present in it. I mean, it's amazing, really, to think that, you know, T20 started in England in 2003 and then you've been ever present throughout it. Can you remember, I mean, I remember there was quite a lot of uncertainty amongst particularly the county members, perhaps the older members when T20 first came in, probably a little bit like the reaction recently to the 100. Can you remember that period just before it began and the introduction of T20? And also, did you sense as a young player that straight away that T20 was just going to take off and be the big growth engine for the game over the next 20 years or so?

25:33No, definitely not. I remember the season before it came in, there was a team meeting, squad meeting, about it being introduced. And most of the senior players said, right, what we'll try doing there is get our rest. That would be their rest period, because there's so much championship cricket then. So it would be the rest period. It was called the Mickey Mouse competition. So you get the youngsters to play the Mickey Mouse competition. and all the second teamers who needed a game to play first team cricket. It was a great opportunity for the youngsters and the second team boys to come in. But then very quickly, I think within the second or third year, it was like, no, this is a pretty serious competition because we get in packed houses.

26:18Everyone's coming to watch it. And, you know, as youngsters in club cricket, we played a lot of T20 cricket. Growing up, it was all T20 cricket. So it was something I was probably quite used to. playing the short form. But I never thought it was going to be what it is today. I remember us sitting on, because I was captain on the Essex Cricket Committee, and it came up on the Essex Cricket Committee. They were introducing this new comp. And as Ravi said there, a few of the old-timers were in there saying, well, don't they play that in club cricket? Isn't it a club competition? Why are we playing this?

26:52Then a few of the sort of money signs started popping up that this might be a good way on a Friday night, especially Chelmsford, everyone coming out of the city. But you're right. I mean, the first few games were almost like a benefit game, a hit and a giggle, and the senior lads would have it. I got given my T20 gear, the yellow pads and everything that the mighty Essex Eagles had. Never. What a loss to T20 cricket. I'm not a Hall of Famer like Ravi Bopar, a T20 Hall of Fame you're inducted into recently. So not a massive loss to the T20 world, but it kicked on pretty quickly. the world has changed what what do you think has changed the most Ravi from those early days apart from money to now what what has changed the most the hitting potential the hitting potential obviously um it's clear to see look I remember 150 was a good score Leicester used Leicester were very successful in the early days of T20 cricket 150 they used to say get 150 on the board they'll get their spinners on all slow bowlers uh and nobody could chase it down they they dominated t2 20 cricket in the early days but now if you look at 200 200 is not exceptional anymore it's just standard exceptional is 230 240 even more and we've seen that more in the ipo than anywhere else obviously with those the very very small boundaries i must say i mean there are tiny boundaries very good wickets great practice facilities for for all the batters to be in good form as well.

28:24And I think also the introduction of impact players as well. So that impact player is making a huge difference. When you get that extra batsman coming in at number eight, it gives a license to all the rest of the bats just to go, look boys, we can really put our foot down. But I do remember some of the tactical talks around T20 cricket was, right, have a look at the first few. We'll be happy for 40 off the power play. That'll be exceptional and we'll build and go from there. But now it's, let's get 70, 80 of the power play and then have a look. Just talking of impact players, I mean, those early days at Essex when I played with you, all you spoke about was Sachin.

29:04That's all. Any conversation was about Sachin Tendulkar. What do you make of young Surya Vanchi? I mean, he is just an incredible talent, isn't he? He's an absolute freak. I mean, I kind of watch him to think, what can I learn of him? I still think that way and what can you learn because these youngsters grew up on a T20 diet so they learn from a very young age how to hit the ball the best they can hit the ball whereas we didn't do that it was can we have a really good forward defence and can we protect our wicket really really well but these boys how can I find how can I hit six or four every ball and if you watch the way he his technique of hitting the ball where his hands go, how the bat goes past 12 o 'clock.

29:54It's hard to describe on camera, but it sort of, he gets that. And then that whip round. I mean, that only happens now with the cricketers coming through now. They've learned so well how to hit the ball. And that's where all the power is.

30:11Nasser Hussain:You straddled both eras, really. You were there just before T20 and then afterwards. And that point you made about the key difference is the lack of consequence to getting out. For somebody like Surya Ranchu, who's only really playing this form, I know he's played a bit of first-flash cricket and whatever, but if you grow up in a kind of era where there's a lack of consequence to losing your wicket and getting out, that is a complete sea change, isn't it, in your mental approach to batting? because as you say, you know, a million years ago in black and white when we played, that thing about getting out in a test match would, you know, it would dominate your thoughts really.

30:57Nasser Hussain:You'd area around with you. Whereas when there's no consequence to losing your wicket, it's a wholly different game. Massive. It puts you in such a good mindset when you know that the rest of your team, coach, everybody involved is saying, don't worry about getting out. We need to score as many runs as we can. it's okay if you get caught mid-off three times in a row it's okay and nobody says anything anymore i just i just come back from the psl you know i was coaching um crutchy kings and i think a couple of times we got to 180 of um of our 20 overs and and boys were like okay it's a decent score um but i think by the end of the competition last for the four or five games I had a chat with David Warner.

31:43I was like, Dave, we need to be getting 230. I'd never thought I'd be saying this a few years ago. How did David Warner say that? Well, he didn't take it very well, funny enough. He said, it's not a 230 pitch. And I said, no, I've given you 10 batters. We bat all the way down to number 10. I've given you 10 batters, 230, regardless of the wicket, is what we're looking for. if we look for 230 I'll be happy with 210 and he said and then after this is the first game when we come out after that chat comes out and I said should we just send one of our lower hitters a very good hitter of the ball it doesn't waste any time so he's your 6-7 ball impact player he might hit three sixes in those because he's such a clean hitter so I said I'm thinking about sending him in he went no no it's not that type of wicket it's not that type of wicket I said you've got to take the wicket out of the equation nowadays I said the boundaries are small regardless of the wicket if you swing if you've got a decent swing on you miss hits are going for six we can't allow bowlers just to hit a length and get away with mid wicket up or anything like that got to take him down and then one of one of our guys did go in and first ball the guy who's bowled a really really good spell he's bowled three overs probably for five runs and over he goes in first ball runs at him hits him over mid-off next ball over mid-wicket for six suddenly changes the game and it's I mean and that's that's what T20 cricket's about now it's just be aggressive because miss hits are going for six unless you're playing on big grounds in Australia most other places in the world the boundaries are tiny and you've got to take advantage take the wicket out of the equation

33:29Nasser Hussain:and at what stage in that like 20 year period did you start as a batter start to practice range hitting six hitting and all the kind of unorthodox shots that we see now, you know, the reverse switch hits, all those kind of things. Was that a gradual incremental thing for you? Or did a kind of switch just go and say, I've just got to start a game in a different way? For me, it was after the 2007 World Cup where, I don't know if you remember, Dilara Fernando bowling that last over. Do you remember? So I didn't know how to slog then. So it was all about, I can make room here, maybe carving through point.

34:15I might get him through extra or something like that. At that time, there was no stand and hit for six. I didn't know that. So when I got back from that World Cup, I was like, I could have really done with knowing how to just power hit. That would have been a massive advantage for us at that stage. So when I got back, I did a lot of work on the machine. it sort of hit home after that i need to be able to stand stand where i am and power hit and then worked really hard on it but it makes a massive difference to to your game in t20 cricket if you if you can back yourself to clear the ropes it makes a huge difference if you're giving advice to any young i know you do a bit of coaching at new hall school now we'll give them a plug ravi but if you're giving any advice to a young boy or girl to improve and increase their power hitting what would that be um i don't can only speak for myself but volume was a big thing for me um now now that you've got so much data and cameras you can you can have a look at some of the best hitters in the world what do they all do what's the common denominator amongst all of them and take that away and say right they all clear their leg or they all keep their hips side on for as long as possible and then unwind those sort of things because you've got so much stater you can have a look at these things and say how can we get better at hitting the ball so my advice would be volume uh have a look at the best in the world what are they doing but there's also stages of the game as well there's openers a lot of openers ain't great death hitters a lot of them i'd say most of them are not great death hitters but then the middle order who the guys who clear their legs and are very very good death hitters so have a look at where you're going to bat.

36:04So are you a top-order batter? Are you a lower-order batter? Those are the things. What do the openers do really, really, really well? Because playing against a new ball and trying to score at 10, 12 and over is very different to scoring 10, 12 and over against the older ball. They're different type of shots. And then when you're opening, really you've just got to clear the men in the circle. if you can be very very very effective with just clearing the men in the in a circle you're going to score at 10 12 and over even more

36:38Nasser Hussain:I swear just what you were just referring back to your point about the 2007 world cup which was in in the Caribbean and maybe your realization that you needed to up your game in in short form cricket I mean that was probably that could that was England as a whole wasn't it that a test team that was pretty successful, but had not been successful in white ball one day, limited overs cricket for quite a long time. And gradually that has changed as well for the whole setup. Absolutely. I mean, it changed massively. Then we went on to win the T20 World Cup not long after that. I know KP had a great, everybody had a great tournament.

37:20I remember Sidebottom having a great tournament with the ball and we had those impact players. Keyz Wetter came in, would get a really quick 20 or 30. And that's the way the game's moved. It's impact. It's all about how much impact you can make, even if it's seven balls you're going in for. If you're a type of guy who can go and get 18 off seven balls, you're a massive part of that team. You're a massive... You go a long way to winning games of cricket because those 18 runs or 20 runs off those six or seven balls is what changes games. so impacts become very very important and those roles where guys score 70 off sort of 45 you know 80 off 50 kind of you think twice about those guys now you think uh i do need a run getter yes but i need those impact players around him i need those guys who can come in and just hit three sixes in and over and completely change uh the momentum of the game uh and you need that Sometimes when the opposition are on top of you, you're two wickets down early, you're three wickets down early.

38:26Sometimes you just want to say to the next guy, look, I just want you to go and change the game. I don't mind if you get out doing it, but if you go and get 20 off your first seven or eight balls, it's going to wrestle the game back in our favour because bowlers change. Bowlers change what they do. You mentioned KP there. I noted when you've done some work with us, I know you've joined us now full-time. You're working with us. So excellent to have you on board. But I noticed last summer when you were doing some work with us with 100, you and Kev get on pretty well. Now, he does polarise opinion, KP.

39:00But what is it about Kevin that you sort of veered towards? Didn't he make you go and get a Coke and a Mars bar occasionally or not?

39:11Do you know what? I just like the way Kev played. I respected him as a player. I like the approach he took.

39:23the way he took on the Aussies, nobody really did that in England. But him coming from South Africa, he didn't really know that sort of background and have that mental history of getting smacked by the Aussies over and over again. He didn't have that. He was just fresh and he was like, I'm going to take him on. And I respected that. And I respected him as a player. I respected how hard he worked at his game. He was always in the gym. He was always staying fit. he's done loads of batting and I sort of looked at him and I said I like this this is someone I can relate to and he had a fantastic career one of the cleanest hitters of the ball I'd seen especially in those days you get a lot of them now but in those days there wasn't many that could do what he did yes he had the advantage of having a long reach I think that goes a long way to being able to do that but he could get on top of bowlers and bully them and I loved it.

40:21I loved watching it.

40:24Nasser Hussain:We've taught mainly short-form cricket here, T20 cricket, because that's the context on which you're on with the blast starting. But we shouldn't forget that you've had a fantastic first-class career as well. I mean, I remember those three Test Hundreds on that tour of the Caribbean. It's funny that. I mean, it's funny that because it was straight after the IPO. Literally straight after the IPO when I landed, I think I had about two or three days of preparation for the test matches and then ended up getting those 300s. And there's been a lot of talk about Bethel being at the RPL. But sorry, I interrupted there.

41:03Nasser Hussain:I was wondering how you look back at your career in its entirety. I mean, A, are you completely fulfilled? You're happy that you achieved what you wanted to achieve. Are there some regrets and what might have been? Or, I mean, how do you look back on it all, really? Because it's been a long and very successful career. No, I wouldn't be completely happy or satisfied, I must admit. As a youngster, I wanted it really, really badly. It meant everything to me. and I wouldn't say I'm satisfied with my England career my biggest regret is not playing for England after the age of 30 because I felt like that's when really I probably played my best cricket I was more mature I kind of knew what I was doing batting wise although it may have I may have at 26 27 thought that I knew what I was doing but really you still don't know and I I felt only after the ages of 30, even after 30, 33, 34, 35, even till today, I feel like now I'm probably at my best with the bat.

42:18So my biggest regret will probably be not playing for England after the age of 30, especially in that era where the boys were being very aggressive, you know, the putting runs of 400 on the board, which was not thought of back in the day. So I'm very happy that I played 20-odd years, 25 or whatever it was. I look back at Gucci's career and as a youngster coming in and Gucci being one of the first guys there, I said, I'd love to play till I'm 40 because he did it. And I looked up to Graham and I said, if I can get to 40, I'll be happy. And then we can have a look after that. But yeah, I think overall, I would have loved to have played more cricket for England after the age of 30.

43:08That's probably my biggest one. And I sort of gave up first-class cricket around 2019. I had loads left in me. But leaving Essex put me in a position where I couldn't really carry on with all their cricket. Otherwise, I wouldn't be at home at all to spend time with my little one. My memory of Rav was actually how he takes the mick out of me, but I'll be nice about him. But how technically sound he was. There was whispers at my old man's cricket school when I was at Ilford about this lad who was just scoring runs for fun. And then I remember preseason nets, as per usual, hogging the net like I did.

43:46And then I'd go upstairs and all the younger lads would go in and I looked down to see if the nets were free. and there was this lad hogging the nets till about three in the afternoon. And I said to whoever, Ronnie or Gucci, who's that? And they said, that's Papari. I just remember the technique and how technically sound you were, Box. So it is a shame that you didn't play more test match cricket, more first-class cricket. What about the little wobblers? We haven't mentioned the little dobly dipping, cupping back of the hand. How much did you enjoy your bowling? that came I loved I loved bowling I think bowling changed my career Gucci said to me very early I think it was my first meeting at Essex I was 16 and he said do you bowl and I went yeah was that a Gucci impression there by the way do you bowl

44:39and I said I do a bit I don't take it very seriously and he said okay I want you to take it seriously and at that time I was thinking really really i was thinking bowling i'm about i'm four foot and i bowl about 60 miles an hour can i take this seriously it's because graham bowled those little wobblers didn't he so he was like i want you to take it seriously because it will get you into into sides when we're when we're discussing and picking an 11 if you can bowl if you can add add with the bowling then you'll get picked ahead of the next guy so i said okay i'll do that and then the introduction of t20 is when it really hit home so that's when I thought okay this this is where I need to actually add value as a as a bowler and I very quickly accepted that I'm not going to bowl quick I'm not going to rush people but what I can do is bowl go the opposite end and be really slow and make it really difficult and it was at that time it wasn't really fashionable to be really slow so I was thinking but surely it's effective.

45:50I mean, I find it really hard to hit really slow bowling. Other people must find it also. They must find it really hard. So actually, I'm just going to bowl as slow as I can. Come off a short run up and bowl loads of slow balls and see how it goes. And the guy who inspired me to bowl those slow balls was actually Ian Harvey. I remember facing Ian Harvey and I couldn't read him and I found it really difficult. So I said, that's what I want to do. If I can do that, then I can be a very effective T20 cricketer. So it ended up being really good because it was a really, really important part of my career.

46:23Really important. And I loved it. I loved bowling more than batting. Loved it.

46:29Nasser Hussain:And I know you're going to do some work with us in the blast, but is coaching going to be your thing moving forward? I mean, I'm thinking you've so much experience. You're both highly successful in first-class cricket. in T20 cricket, played around the world, played international cricket, domestic cricket. I mean, your vast range of experiences in all facets of the game, batting and bowling, which should make you an ideal kind of person to pass on all your experiences, really. Yeah, but I want to be like used to. I want to do what you're doing. no look I would I would hate for whatever I've learned in those years whatever knowledge that happened I'd hate for it to die with me I'd love to pass on whatever I know whatever I can do to help any cricketer experienced young anyone I'd love to pass it on because the game I love the game it's a beautiful game and if i can pass on whatever i've learned in my time to someone else and it changes their career it can be something small it can be one little golden nugget that i might be able to give someone and if it changes their career and they go on to have a very successful career because of something really small i'll be happy with that i'll be very very happy with that but i haven't made my decision as to where and what i want to do yet i'm uh i'm I'm testing the waters at the moment.

48:00The blast starts Friday. And I was just wondering what you thought of it as a competition. I mean, it's gone back to playing it in a block and not that massive gap where you have months off and then some final with different overseas players. Surely that's the right way to go. But what do you think of the blast as a competition overall? Still my favourite competition. I know you take the mickey out of me for playing so many competitions around the world. It can end up anywhere in the world. and play a random competition. But it's still my favourite competition to play. The best competition. The summer in England is the best summer.

48:38I absolutely love being in the country at that time. The crowd that come in, the fans, they're very loyal. You get those very loyal county supporters who come in. They love their county. They love T20 cricket. They're the heartbeat of the blast. Let's be honest. The players you play with, the people you've played with for years and years and years. So, you know, with and against. And I think I've said this quite a few times now. Winning the Blast 2019 at Edgbaston was the best day of my career. Was that when you had a little wink to camera walking off? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's the one. It was the best day of my career.

49:25And people said to me, really? and I'm like yeah it was the best day of my career forget about England test match forget about any of that that day was the best day of my career because you play two games that day you play with the guys I was playing with the guys that I grew up playing with uh they were like my family and winning the blast in front of that crowd oh honestly it's the best day best day ever finals

49:52Nasser Hussain:days so good i love it fantastic um now i totted up this might take you some time by the way i totted up the fact that you played across the world for 26 domestic teams in t20 cricket can you name them 26 domestic 26? I've got them written down here. 26 domestic teams. You played in 75 different competitions. You said have Passport World Travel. You played in 75 different comps. I'm not going to get you to name those. It doesn't have Passport World Travel. Including, obviously, Essex and teams in England. But can you name your 26 domestic teams that you played T20 cricket for? Okay. I reckon it's a lot I reckon it's a lot more than 26 I reckon it's about 40 plus so there's some on there that are not there but if I can name 26 let's go, let's have a try Essex North Ants, Sussex that's England covered let's go IPL, Punjab Kings 11 uh Hyderabad Sunrises that's five let's go BPL Rangpour Riders Sillet Dhaka uh Radshai I didn't have that one then yeah Radshai okay so that's four there Chidugong Kings Chidugong Kings that was the very first time I went there so that's 5, that's 10 all together let's move on from BPL let's go to CPL Af, I'm just going to make a coffee Af I'll be back in an hour

51:59Sydney Sixers yeah Auckland

52:04Nasser Hussain:yeah

52:08we won it We won the CPL. St Kitts and the Patriots. St Kitts, yeah. St Kitts. Where else have it been? PSL. PSL, Karachi Kings, Maltan, Peshawar.

52:26Nasser Hussain:I've got one here called Chicago Wind Chasers. Who are they? I don't know. Tell us, just tell us the teams. I don't even know who they are. Just tell us the teams you haven't played for. We'd been with this podcast for the finish. Quick up. Anyway, that's that. I'm sure it's more than 26 eventually. Rav, it's been great to catch up with you. Such a lot of fun and reflections on 23 years of the blast, which kicks off on Friday as Hampshire Somerset doubleheader. You're working with us throughout. And, well, no doubt we'll catch up in the summer. But thanks very much for coming on. And well done on a fantastic career.

53:06here cheers guys thank you pleasure be there on time i'll be there on time don't worry