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Tried to copy a lot of Virender Sehwag, says Paul Stirling
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Follow UsThe Ireland batsman says he also looked up to Damien Martyn
Recalling the cricketers he used to look up to, Ireland batsman Paul Stirling says that former Australia batsman Damien Martyn and former India opening batsman Virender Sehwag are the two players he looked to emulate.
In a virtual interaction by the International Cricket Council (ICC), Stirling said, "I probably had two batsmen that I loved watching, one was Damien Martyn, he was nice to look up (to), pleasant on the eye, aesthetically pleasing, someone I can never emulate and Virender Sehwag, the other one I watched," Stirling said.
"(I) loved his play through the off-side (and) tried to copy a lot of his stuff, not very well be it, but (I) loved watching those two bat, and used to watch Test cricket at home, which was not really the normal thing to do in Belfast as a 10-year-old," he added.
Like Sehwag, the swashbuckling Irish batsman did not change his technique either. "It is something that you learn as you go on, there would be a lot more noise for Sehwag than there will be for me. I just think it doesn't, it shouldn't affect your performance, it only affects your performance, if you actually take it in from outside, it doesn't help in any way," Stirling said.
Stirling, who had a sporting family and a cricket ground which was near his house, recollected how he fell in love with the game. Cricket was mainly the one that I probably fell in love with the most from the earliest age from about five (years old)."
Stirling also said that he watched the Indian Premier League games and he was surprised to see the wickets at Sharjah. He also stressed that he will have to work equally hard to play both the spinners and the seamers in the T20 World Cup.
"Definitely we got to work hard against spin and in nets we got to prepare well but also keep eye on the fact that something that you have your eye on like (while) playing spin, don't forget the seamers as well and the other factors that come into it, so there is lot of skill (needed) for seamers to be played against as well, he signed off.
The T20 World Cup will be played in Oman and the United Arab Emirates from October 17 and Ireland will first lock horns with the Netherlands at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on October 18.