New Delhi, Oct 10 — Former Indian cricketer and Team Director of Abu Dhabi T10 League's Royal Desert Champions Robin Singh called his squad a well-balanced one as they gear up for the upcoming season of the tournament that begins on November 7.
Royal Desert Champions have the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford and Phil Salt pre-signed before the draft and later picked in the likes of Muhammad Waseem, Naseem Shah and Maheesh Theekshana, among others, to bolster their squad.
Speaking to IANS, Singh analysed his squad as having strong personnel that is needed to perform well in a fast-paced tournament like the Abu Dhabi T10 League. "Yeah, we have tried to pick a well-balanced team. Most of these guys play the T20 format really well," he told IANS.
"I think Nicholas Pooran as well as Phil Salt have played T20, and it's not only them; I think many other players in the setup have too. So it looks like a pretty well-balanced team. It's one of those formats where it's quick, so you need to execute," he added.
Singh, who has coached the erstwhile Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians, felt that the think tank did well in the draft and has most of the bases covered. They had strong batters and picked a decent bowling line-up at the draft.
"Yeah, I think we got about 80% of what we wanted. Drafts are always a bit tricky. You don't really know who you'll get because it depends on the pick before you and how people build their squad. So it really depends on a little bit of luck in terms of what you want. But at the same time, you have a strategy in place where if you don't get X, you can try and get Y to compensate. So you build a team around those things," he added.
He has his eyes on winning the title with Desert Champions and also opened up about his experience of having worked with Pooran previously in the league. "We need the win (title). Definitely, without a doubt. I think, as I said, they are all professionals. Once you lay down the ground rules and they understand what is expected from them, we expect similar things from them as well.
"So, we will have our ground rules. They will have the way they play. We come up, we put together a strategy in place, and we take it forward from there. And, you know, whatever small tweaks you have to make during the course of the tournament, you will do that to ensure that you keep winning," he said.