The pitches in IPL 2022 have been belters on most occasions with 200-plus totals chased down successfully twice. Dew, too, has made life difficult for the bowlers in several games.

Senior Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer Tim Southee, though, isn’t on the same page with those who feel conditions have been extremely batsmen-friendly this IPL. Instead of complaining and grumbling, the New Zealander feels it’s better for bowlers to find ways to try and create problems for batsmen as much as possible.

“I think we have seen that the nature of the wickets, some of the ones where we’ve played on, have been such that it helped the new ball do a little bit more, which has been nice to see as a new-ball bowler,” 33-year-old Southee, who has taken five wickets in two appearances for the Knights this season, told The Telegraph.

“But the dew is something you can’t control. You can do a number of things to try and minimise the dew, but it’s going to be there.

“So I think as players and as a side, we just have to find ways to cope with it and not use it as an excuse, and rather bring our variations into play and try to find ways to minimise the impact of the dew,” he emphasised.

Lately, Southee hasn’t been able to be a part of KKR’s XI, particularly since the arrival of his Australian counterpart Pat Cummins. That doesn’t seem to be much of a worry for him though, as he’s quite clear about his goal. “Well, it’s just the nature of the tournament which allows picking four overseas players in a side. So it’s just about making the most of the opportunities and trying to make an impact when I’m selected and hopefully, leaving the tournament as a better cricketer than when I had arrived,” Southee explained.

He also believes that his presence in the squad, along with that of Cummins and India’s Test specialist Umesh Yadav, should help KKR’s young quicks like Shivam Mavi and Rasikh Salam, something they “can lean on to”.

T20 Cup preparation

Although this year’s T20 World Cup will be held in Australia, where conditions are completely different, Southee feels the experience and learning from this IPL should still be of some help going into the showpiece event.

“As a T20 player, you’re always looking to evolve your game and be better at it. The more chances you get, the better you can become as a T20 cricketer. “Although the World Cup will be in a different part of the world with different grounds and surfaces, still I’m sure there are plenty that the guys can take from playing the game in such a great tournament like the IPL,” Southee said.