Phehlukwayo thrilled to be a Joburg Giant

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Phehlukwayo

The Global T20 League is taking shape after the player draft assigned squads to each of the eight teams taking part in the exciting new venture.

One of the biggest captures of the day saw the Jo’burg Giants secure the services of rising allround star Andile Phehlukwayo in the third round.

We spoke to Phehlukwayo at the draft and he revealed that while it would have been nice to stay in Durban he is really excited to be involved with the Johannesburg franchise.

When we asked him whether there was any sense of disappointment about not being picked by the Durban Qalanders he said: “Obviously you’d like as a local player to play in your home conditions, but it’s not a train smash for me.

“I’m really keen and excited to be involved in the Jo’burg Giants.

“Wanderers is a historical ground, good atmosphere, good support system, it’s just a great ground and I’d really like to play my cricket there.

The Giants also secured the services of Proteas senior Test allrounder Vernon Philander, a player Phehlukwayo has been earmarked to succeed.

Phehlukwayo is keen to learn more from Big Vern having already spent some time with him during the recent Test series in England.

The man from Port Shepstone was also thrilled at the prospect of playing with Black Caps legend Brendon McCullum and Proteas star Kagiso Rabada.

“It’s really good, in terms of myself as a young player. I’ve grown in coming up now, played a few international games and I’ve learned a lot from him.

“I think spending time with a player like that day in and day out is really good especially having the likes of Brendon McCullum and KG around. As a batting allrounder or bowling allrounder you can learn from both types of player.”

Phehlukwayo has played a number of key lower-order innings since making his ODI debut in 2016, sharing a big partnership with David Miller as the Proteas chased down 372 in Durban before outshining AB de Villiers in getting South Africa home against New Zealand in Hamilton earlier this year.

The promising allrounder has also shown signs of being the man to solve the Proteas limited overs death bowling problem.

When we asked if he was looking forward to showcasing his skills with a view to possibly landing a lucrative IPL deal:”Definitely,I take it step by step. I enjoy pressure situations and I think there will be many of them in this tournament, they can’t always go your way, but if you’re the guy who is always there, you get noticed and you learn from those situations.

“Staying calm and being that guy that’s always there is really good so that when it’s your time to shine you can do that.”

The T20 Global League gets underway on Friday November 3 when the Cape Town Knight Riders host the Pretoria Mavericks while the Joburg Giants opening game will be the following day against the Stellenbosch Monarchs in Paarl.

By James Richardson

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