My Aim Is To Be One Of The Most Successful Test Players Out There- Rahkeem Cornwall

In an era where cricketers are giving up Test cricket and reinventing themselves into a T20 globetrotter, Rahkeem Cornwall, the burly West Indian off-spinner, is focussed on ‘nailing down’ his Test career and impinge himself as one of the leading cricketers in the world in red-ball cricket.

Ever since the IPL and other T20 leagues came into existence, a majority of West Indian players have gone down the franchise cricket route. While Cornwall won’t mind playing the high-profile leagues around the world, he doesn’t want that at the cost of his a career in the purest format of the game.

‘’If I can play the T20 format and travel the world and play leagues it would be good but my aim is to be one of the most successful Test players out there,’’ Rahkeem Cornwall told PTI.

‘’Playing Test cricket is the art of cricket, everyone wants to play Test cricket and do well. I have already played the format, I just want to make sure I get what I am really looking for in Test cricket and when my times comes to retire, I don’t have any regrets,” Cornwall reckoned.

“If I get to play different leagues around the world, it would be a bonus for me but the main focus is to keep pushing my Test career,” said the off-spinner, who celebrated his Test debut with scalps of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli last year.

‘’Size does not matter to me”- Rahkeem Cornwall

Cornwall was asked if the constant chatter around his size affects him, to which the off-spinner said that size does not matter, although he would want to be fitter in order to give him the best possible chance to perform in all the three formats.

‘’Size does not matter to me. I already know who I am and what my size is. I just try to be fit as possible so that can perform for my team. You have to be fit for all formats. Playing Test cricket is hard as well. Yes in T20 cricket, you have to be moving up and down but it is still cricket and you have to be fit,’’ Rahkeem Cornwall said.

“I would not say I am fine the way I am. I am still a work in progress. I wouldn’t set a goal (on losing how much weight). My family is big-boned. I just have to know the right size where I can go my job on the field and once I get to that stage, I am in a good place,” he said.

Cornwall has already taken a 10-wicket-haul in his brief Test career [vs Afghanistan earlier this year]. The right-hander went to hail Nathan Lyon and Ravichandran Ashwin as the leading spinners of the modern era. He also revealed that while he does not have any spin-bowling hero, he likes to talk to spinners from the opposition teams, adding that he had a conversation on the art of spin bowling with Ravi Ashwin last year.

”I like to talk to spinners of other teams and pick up bits that suit my game, not everything they would tell me would suit my game. I try not to overcomplicate. With Ashwin, basically we had a normal spinner talk, how the ball is coming out from the hand, keep your shape, make sure you maintain balance at the crease and take it from there. Just probably learning from one another.” Rahkeem Cornwall revealed.

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