‘Holder carried CPL form into IPL’

Cricket commentator Ian Bishop believes Jason Holder’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) form over the past two seasons was largely responsible for his recall to the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season.

The West Indies captain was contracted by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in September to replace Australia’s Mitchell Marsh, who injured his ankle in SRH’s first match of the 2020 IPL season and was ruled out for the entire season.

The 28-year-old Barbadian repaid SRH’s faith in him on Thursday when he took three wickets and was involved in four dismissals in his team’s emphatic eight-wicket victory over the Rajasthan Royals in Dubai.

The former West Indies fast bowler speaking on T20 Timeout believes it was Holder’s CPL form that has seen him playing in the IPL for the first time since he played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2016.

“What catapulted him back into the West Indies T20 side was last year’s CPL where he picked up 11 or 12 wickets in the Power Play because he swings the ball, he has nice bounce and he was particularly impressive in that phase of the game,” said Bishop, who said his batting also played a role.

“He is not as good at the back end of the innings, and in this year’s CPL he was scoring a lot of runs relative to the Barbados Tridents, who he captained again.

“He looked like a batsman (when compared to most of them) apart from Kyle Mayers.”

Bishop believes Holder’s overall game has been improving.

“He is getting better. I wouldn’t say he is a standout T20 player but I can understand why they (SRH) went for him.”

Holder came in for high praise for his performance from captain David Warner who said their win started with the bowling.

“Jason adds an extra string to our bow. His height. His experience. And he couldn’t bat today [yesterday], but he is an all-round package,” said Warner of the Barbadian allrounder. (SportsMax)