Punjab Kings' bowling coach James Hopes expressed confidence ahead of their upcoming IPL clash against Rajasthan Royals, highlighting the team's preparedness and the fearless mindset of the young Indian players. Reflecting on the week-long break in the middle of the tournament, Hopes said the players have returned feeling refreshed and are back in rhythm.
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00:00It was a really interesting week. We got rushed out of Dharmashala, obviously, and yet I think there was some concern about how the team was going to come back together. But the way we've trained the last few days, it's like we didn't miss a beat. And if anything, the guys came back a little bit fresh from being able to spend a couple of days at home.
00:19Can you just give basically what all players you have and if somebody's unavailable, there were some doubts over Inglis coming back? Just coming from you as to do you have a complete squad?
00:32We do not have a complete squad. We're hoping Marcus and Josh join us early next week. But to be honest, I'm pretty bullish on the depth in our squad.
00:40We've added Mitchell Owens here. Marco arrives today. He's been training in Dubai. So we've got, like, outside of those two Australians, Aaron Hardy, we've got a full squad to pick from.
00:53And there's been certain times in this tournament where Josh and Marcus haven't been selected anyway. So we're pretty bullish about the depth and we're going to use it tomorrow afternoon. Sorry.
01:04There's a break of eight days. Do you think it broke the rhythm of the team and the way you used to plan? Is there a new strategy after the break for the remaining matches or is it the same?
01:20No, I think we'll go in with a pretty similar structure. Even if there's some different players that are in those roles, the way we're going to play is going to be very similar.
01:31Yeah, it has the potential to. It's an eight-day break, which was an unexpected break. But we're trying to look at the flip side of it. Our guys are a little bit fresher now and for a two and a half week push for the final.
01:43What were you doing during the break?
01:45I was sitting in Delhi and then I was on a bus down to here. Myself, Ricky, Brad and the rest of the management, we stayed because there was a chance after the ceasefire that the tournament might get up and running on Thursday night.
01:58And for us to go back to Australia and come back again, I would have spent about 12 hours in my house. So I didn't think that was worth doing that.
02:06There were a lot of players who had gone back to the world and not coming back to the world.
02:12No, there's not as many as you think. I think a lot of players in the tournament have come back.
02:19I think trying to get the tournament up in September was going to be a difficult ask to get all the boards to agree to release their players.
02:26So I think what they're doing, finishing the tournament now, is really the only logical thing they can do to try to complete this IPL.
02:35All the teams are just pressing on and we'll see how we go.
02:37How do you see the Rajasthan Royals? Many players are injured. How do you see the Rajasthan Royals?
02:50What do you think about the Rajasthan Royals? Because many of the players are injured.
02:55The thing I've said in press conferences over here before, the young Indian players at the moment, they don't fear anything.
03:07And they're almost scarier to play against because they come out, you don't have a lot of information on them to start off with.
03:14And they come out with zero fear. And we've seen it with a few teams this tournament, including us, with playing some young players.
03:21And they're having big tournaments, dominant tournaments. We're unsure whether Sandry's playing.
03:26If you've got that information, I'd like to know. But no, we are not going to take these guys lightly.
03:34It's an IPL team. It's world-class. They'll be a tough beat.
03:40Hello, James.
03:41Hello.
03:43Shreya, as a leader, has had a great impact on the team, match after match, session after session.
03:48Can you just throw some light on the way his impact has been in the dressing room, the way players are learning from him and are delivering on the field?
03:57He's calm and he's confident. I think that's the first thing that he does really well, regardless of how the game is going or the game is trending.
04:05He's the same person. Same person.
04:08And if you have a bad day as a player or something's gone wrong, he's going to be the same person towards you after the game.
04:17I've worked with him in Delhi before he went to KKR. He's stepped up a level from what he was there.
04:25And that just comes with playing more cricket and being more confident in what you do.
04:29It does help the way he bats. The players naturally gravitate towards that kind of player. He makes it look pretty easy.
04:35We're blessed to have him in our team, to be honest.
04:41Coach, this is the third home stadium your team will play at.
04:45Firstly, what are your early assessments about the conditions here? Obviously, it's hot and human.
04:49And secondly, do you think the pitch here suits your team's style?
04:53As in, you have three accumulators at the top. Priyansh, Prabh, Simran and Shreya.
04:57Does that suit your team's style, how the pitch is here?
05:01Yep. Yep, is all I'm going to say.
05:03It's normally a very good pitch here. It's obviously very hot.
05:08We haven't played a lot of spin in this tournament.
05:10I think our pace to spin ratio is probably the most heavily favoured towards pace.
05:16But we do have some spinners in our squad that we're more than willing to play if the pitchers throw that up.
05:21So no, no, we're very confident in the depth we got.
05:24We tried to put together a squad that could play in all different conditions.
05:27And having three home venues was a bit unexpected, but that's okay.
05:32We've done really well just to keep rolling with the punches the whole tournament
05:35and hopefully continues for the next couple of weeks.