Past experience of having played in Australia would help him adjust to the pitches in South Africa which will host the second edition of IPL from April 18, Rajasthan Royals pacer Siddharth Trivedi said in Mumbai on Tuesday.

“This would be my first visit to South Africa. I have not made any special preparations. I read what Glenn McGrath has said that conditions in South Africa would be similar to the Australian ones. I have played in Australia and that experience would help me”, Trivedi told reporters on Tuesday.

Retired Australia pace great McGrath told reporters in Delhi on Monday that the conditions in his country and SA were similar which will help him get adjusted in time for the IPL.

“I did enjoy the fan support and playing in Delhi (for Delhi Daredevils) last year but if I just think about the conditions, I feel it would be bouncy and quick, somewhat similar to what we have in Australia. I feel we can adjust to the conditions quite quickly,” McGrath said.

The 26-year-old Trivedi, who made his first class debut in 2002-03, has visited Australia for a five-week training stint at the Australian Cricket Academy under the Border-Gavaskar scholarship in 2003.

The lanky right-arm Gujarat Ranji Trophy bowler was also part of the India A team that visited Australia last year for the Emerging Players’ tournament and in 2006 for the Top End series.

Trivedi, who would be again playing under another Australian legend Shane Warne for his IPL franchise outfit, praised the leg spin great for the motivation he provided as captain-coach in 2008.

“I have been playing for seven years and had some good experience before IPL. Playing under Warne was a different experience. He always used to tell me ‘you have lot of variations’ and give a lot of encouragement”, said Trivedi, who picked up 13 wickets in 15 IPL ties in 2008.

“I worked a lot on my yorkers and slower ones. In this format you have to be unpredictable (to the batsmen). Warne told me my job, when I came on to bowl after six overs, was to contain the run flow and not take wickets”, he said.

Trivedi and his Gujarat and RR teammate Niraj Patel both welcomed their franchise outfit’s partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as the technology partner by saying the deal would help them in ironing out their own deficiencies through video analysis.

The Rajasthan Royals team is set to depart tonight for South Africa and their opening match is scheduled on April 18 against Bangalore Royal Challengers.
Source – expressindia.com