Abu Dhabi: West Indies’ wicketkeeper-batsman Johnson Charles, who has scored over 4,000 runs in T20s, is all set to turn up for the Bangla Tigers in the upcoming season of the Abu Dhabi T10, powered by sky247net. The competition will be played at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi from 28th January – 6th February 2021. Charles expressed that the entertainment element in T10 is higher than that of T20, “The entertainment in T10 is even higher than T20 and it’s a more compact game than T20, very short, the margin of error is a lot thinner than T20 so, it’s an even more high-pressure game. All in all, it’s very quick-paced and a lot more fun.”
The 32-year-old added that even though there is less time in T10, one can take a couple of deliveries to get his eye in, “T20 is just a longer format of T10. In T10, you have less time to get settled, so it’s just about putting the very same principle into play with just less time. You could take a couple of balls to assess the pitch in T10 and then get on with the show from there.”
A host of West Indian stars such as Chris Gayle and Sunil Narine will be featuring in the new season of the Abu Dhabi T10. Charles, who was part of the Lanka Premier League-winning team – Jaffna Stallions in December 2020, said that he will take it as a challenge while facing the world-class players, “I am looking to give a good show of myself. It’s always good to have good competition and I am always looking to come on top so it’s going to be a challenge and I am going to take on the challenge and just look to be on top. These guys are world-class players, but I am always going to look to push forward and get my team into a good position. My number one priority this season would be to put my team in a good position.”
When asked about the players he is looking forward to playing with, Charles said, “Andre Fletcher and Tom Moores are exciting players, but I am looking forward to playing with the whole team – locals and international players. Just looking forward to working with everybody and have a good time.”
The opening batsman signed off by saying that he always likes to play in Abu Dhabi, “I love playing in Abu Dhabi. I have been playing the T10 tournament for a couple of years and Abu Dhabi is a really wonderful place. Let’s see how it goes this year.”