Imagine King Viv striding out for an IPL match

Dubai - It's hard not to imagine how this serial destroyer of bowling reputations would have fared in the IPL

There was once a batsman from Antigua. A gum-chewing annihilator of bowling attacks all over the world.
Yes, yes, it's the original master blaster, Sir Viv Richards.

Greenidge or Haynes walks back to the pavilion and out comes Viv. The crowd howls in absolute delight. You can't blame the opposition for thinking that they should have been born a couple of decades later.
Of course, they wouldn't have known that they would run into a certain Sachin Tendulkar.
Well, that's fate. Anyway, coming back to Viv, the swagger with which he approached the crease made many a bowler mutter a prayer or two, and desperately hope that the captain won't hand over the ball to them.
It's hard not to imagine how this serial destroyer of bowling reputations would have fared in the IPL. A format tailor-made for his swashbuckling style of batting.
Not that formats mattered much to Viv.
Remember, he scored a hundred off 56 balls in a Test match.
And that magnificently cocky 189 against England. The kind of innings that batsmen of all ages fantasise about playing.
Actually when it comes to Sir Viv, it's not only about the runs scored; it's how he scored them. There's a word for it - chutzpah.
Now imagine him striding out for an IPL match, head held high, maroon cap tilted at a jaunty angle, eyes steely with determination.
Sir Viv would lock eyes with the bowler and smile a brief smile, a wolfish grin really.
The lamb is ready for the slaughter.
 

• IPL 2019