In a bid to intimidate the opponents and earn the respect, Sylhet Thunder head coach Harcehelle Gibbs wants that Sylhet Thunder to play a fearless brand of cricket in the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL).
Gibbs, who himself was a fearless player during his stint with South African dream team, arrived here on Monday to join the Sylhet camp. It is his first stint as head coach of any side.
“I have played with lot of energy and passion and lot of skill as well and that’s what I need to instill in my players and I want to bring that fearless type of cricket into the team that I teach,” Gibbs said here on Tuesday.
Sylhet Thunder will take on Chattogram Challengers in the opening game of the BBPL at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on December 11.
“Enjoy the stage, I will say them. It is a big stage for some of my players as they have not played international cricket. I want them to embrace the challenge in the next couple of weeks and just want to bring out the talent in themselves.”
Gibbs, however, admitted that he doesn’t know all the players he got in the team but he believes that he would be able to unearth their talent as the time progresses.
Unlike some other team Thunder is not a firm favorite to win the trophy. Gibbs doesn’t mind at all with their underdog tag and hopes he could inspire the players to fight fire with fire.
“You do not need big names, you need one guy to fire. The unknown is a good place to be in because no other teams know the unknown,” Gibbs pointed out.
“Like, I said if you fly under the radar it is nice to get one out of the way. There will be nerve, excitement and energy for everybody including me,” he said.
“If you play with freedom you can achieve anything irrespective of who you play against. There is no guarantee in the game which is fantastic. Like I said as far as our skill set is concerned, we have got a variety of spinner but unfortunately we do not have top order left-handed batsman… I have only been with the guys for two days, they are well-prepared. I have seen enough of them just want them to come tomorrow mentally prepared. They have done everything there is no injury and niggles. I just want them to have a good night’s sleep and come rock and roll,” he said.
Gibbs said even though they won’t get all the big names available for the whole tournament, he keeps faith on the existing players to keep the team forward.
“I did forward some names to the owners when the draft was happening. Most of these players are not available for the whole tournament which is obviously a big distraction for choosing a team, you like the squad for the whole tournament. Still I have got faith in my players,” he concluded.
