Australian fast bowler Andrew Tye was busy claiming his maiden fifer in a ODI against England when back in India, at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, Kings XI Punjab was signing him for a whopping ₹7.2 crore - a price, the 31-year-old wasn’t “quite expecting to go for”.
“It took me a bit by surprise. I was thinking I’ll probably get ₹3-4 crore if at all,” Tye told Sportstar . “I was elated to be picked up and heading back to India to play in the IPL again - it’s such an amazing tournament,” he said.
Asked if the hefty price tag will bring added pressure, he said, “I’ll operate the same way. You always try and do the best for your team; doesn’t matter how much you get paid,” before adding, “the club is paying me that money because they really wanted me as I’ll fit in well in their team.”
Tye was with the Chennai Super Kings squad a few years ago where he was largely confined to the bench, before being snapped up by now-defunct Gujarat Lions.
He made an instant impact in IPL 2017; picking up a hat-trick on debut. So, how has his bowling evolved since? “I’m a lot more relaxed with my game now, more confident with what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. I’ve put a lot of hours in practice to sort of find out the things that I wasn’t getting right enough of the time previously,” he said.
Is he excited to bowl to Chris Gayle (KXIP ₹2 crore) in the nets? “It’ll be an awesome experience,” he said. “He (Gayle) has been the boss of T20 cricket for so long, it is fun and also scary at times bowling to the likes of him in the nets because they hit the ball very hard and you try not to get hit by it (laughs).
“It’s a true test of how well you’re bowling and how you’re able to control the ball for there’s not a lot of margin for error with these guys.”
Tye thinks Australia “probably let England get off in the first 10 (overs) a bit too often” during the 4-1 defeat in the recently concluded ODI series.
“We didn’t quite get it right in the ODI format this year, the one game where we did get it right, we won. But I don’t think during the series, we put a good game together with both bat and ball. There’s a lot of room for improvement there,” he signed off.
