As he nears the last innings of his impressive career and the cricket betting odds get exciting, Dale Steyn is adamant about not giving up white-ball cricket in order to improve his Test longevity. “When you start to come to the back end (of your career), people start to say ‘maybe you should give up one (format) or give up the other.”
Steyn told cricket.com.au. “I’m looking at it differently; I want to play everything.” Dismissing the rumors on how he would approach the final stretch, Steyn believes he has made sound choices, even if giving up Twenty20s and ODIs “and play Test matches would probably be the wise thing. But, I just want to play everything.” Ok, we heard you the first time.
Not too long ago, veteran Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath retired from limited-overs cricket so as to focus on Tests. “As age starts taking its toll on the body, balancing all formats could lead to a hectic schedule. Looking at the case of stalwarts such as Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, retiring from the shorter formats is a standard norm for an ageing cricketer to extend his Test career,” Ram Kumar writes on Yahoo! Cricket. Age? The guy’s 32 years old and he’s already considered the greatest fast bowler of his generation – cricketers sure live life on the fast lane. Moreover, if Rangana Herath jumped off a bridge, does that mean Steyn is supposed to jump too?
No, sir. Steyn expressed his enjoyment of ODIs and T20Is, which are great, entertaining, and a lot of fun. “I really enjoy Twenty20s, I really enjoy ODIs, it’s just great. I like the entertainment side of it, it’s fun,” he said. Yeah, we get the idea. On the other hand, he admitted that missing out on an international match is difficult to cope with. “I get ‘FOMO’ – the fear of missing out – so I want to play,” he said. “I want to go on tours, I love being around the boys, and I love playing cricket.” And as we all know, once you get FOMO you’re FUBAR. Fortunately, that mostly happens only to FNGs who then tend to go either AWOL or KIA – MIA if they’re lucky.
With fewer than 20 cricket betting matches to go before hitting the 100 Test milestone, Steyn is cautious. “I’d love to get to 100 Test matches. That would be amazing. I’m not going to be too upset if I end up on 95 or if I even end up on 85,” he said. But even if he falls short, he feels he has “made a great contribution to South African cricket. I’ve really loved it, I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. I know that I can’t do this for the rest of my life so I’m just trying to enjoy as much as I can. If it means that I’m only go to pay one more Test match in my career then so be it.”