Mumbai:Alex Carey, the Australia wicketkeeper-batsman, who had an exceptional ICC Men's Cricket World Cup last year, aspires to be a finisher for his team in the mould of MS Dhoni.
Carey was one of Australia's most successful batsmen in the World Cup outside the top six and scored 375 runs in nine innings at a remarkable average of 62.50 and a strike-rate of over 100. He is part of Australia's squad for the ODI series against India and would hope for a place in the playing XI to showcase his mettle.
The 28-year-old had observed the wicket-keeping veteran and former India captain closely during India's tour of Australia in 2018/19 as well as the return series when Australia visited Indian shores for five ODIs in March last year.
"When you look at the best in the world like MS Dhoni, you want to learn as much as you can from him," Carey told the reporters ahead of the first ODI. "I was lucky enough to play against him last year, just the way he took the game deep and won games for India."
"I aspire to do that one day. It's just improving little parts of my game," he said.Carey admitted that he is not too bothered about where he bats for Australia as long as he gets a chance to prove himself. While he batted at No.7 in the World Cup, he was promoted to the No.5 position for the semi-final against England. Although Australia lost that game, Carey was one of the standout performers with his fighting 46 and century-stand with Steve Smith, which helped Australia put up a respectable total on the board, an ICC report on Sunday said.
In the Big Bash League this season, Carey has batted at No.4 for the Adelaide Strikers and is among the top 10 run-getters in the tournament. "It's going to be, a lot of the time, dependent on the situation of the game where I bat in the future," said Carey. "Hopefully your No.5, 6 or 7 come in later in the innings and if I'm batting in one of those spots, I am happy enough to do that."
"Batting in the middle order with Adelaide has been something that I've identified in my game. If I'm playing for Australia it's probably going to be through the middle. It's one of those roles I want to get better at and hopefully win games for Australia," he said.
Carey only hopes that he does enough in the matches in India and subsequently earns a place in the T20I side for the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup later this year in Australia.
"When Australian cricket teams are winning, it's hard to change. For me, it's to do my absolute best here in the one-day team and hopefully be a part of the T20 World Cup, which is not too far away. I don't look too far ahead," Carey said."From my previous experiences with football, you know things can change pretty quickly," he added.Australia play the first of the three ODIs in Mumbai on January 14.(UNI)
