MI roped in Romario Shepherd from LSG via a trade ahead of IPL 2024.

Playing the waiting game isn't something new for West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd. Although he didn't have to wait too long to make an impact in the Bangladesh Premier League, bagging three wickets and smashing an unbeaten 66 against Rangpur Riders in his first match for Chattogram Challengers, it won't be the case when he joins the Mumbai Indians in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League.

Shepherd had played three games for Sunrisers Hyderabad before being picked by Lucknow Super Giants in the last last season, but got only one match. This time around, his chances of featuring in the eleven in the IPL are a lot slimmer considering the firepower already present in the MI setup. The 29-year-old cricketer, who hails from Guyana, will have to wait for his time and he is quite aware of it as he prepares to join one of the biggest franchises in the IPL.

"I know how to wait because I have been waiting very long in West Indies and whichever team, and I know actually how to be on the bench and be happy for my teammates," Shepherd told Cricbuzz on Sunday (February 18). "It's up to the coach and basically it's up to the franchise and whoever selects the team because they know what they need against each team and so my style of play is different from Hardik and Coetzee and basically it's up to the team to decide which style they need on that day and if each one is doing well they will wait for their turn," he said.

"Mumbai has been a really big franchise. Anywhere in the world you go, people will talk about Mumbai or Chennai as the biggest franchises. For me, it's a big step in my career to play for one of the biggest franchises in the world. They are also one of the most famous franchises as well as the most respected franchise. I want to continue doing the stuff that actually made them pick me for the side. I will try to perform well in Mumbai because it is a franchise that I always wanted to represent because of its legacy," he said.

Shepherd insists that he won't think much about when he will get a chance, rather focus on being ready all the time so that he can seize the opportunity whenever it comes. "For me basically it's a long tournament (IPL) and so you are away from your family stuff like that and sometimes it can get stressful and playing in the IPL is good. The franchise always keeps you occupied and gets everything that you need.

"It's just about continuing training and every option of training I am there, even if it is a day before a game I am there, because I am gonna put in the work so that whenever I get my opportunity I want to be ready for one those days...I try to train to get into that zone that I want to be play. For me it's all about being ready, staying ready so whenever you are called upon, that you are ready," he said.

While he is known for his big-hitting skills, Shepherd says he is not someone who hits 1000 balls a day. "To be honest not really (hitting specific number of balls in the net) and I am not someone who goes out and hits 1000 balls, and I am not guy who'll go out and hit till I am feeling comfortable and I want to feel I am where I am at the start of the game. And even if I am not batting as well I would have liked, I will go to the coach and ask him to feed me few balls but it won't be lot and it would be less than 30 balls," said Shepherd.

"I could not hit as hard as some of the guys and it is something that I worked on a lot and lot of range hitting that helped me actually improve my hitting game because at one stage it was hitting the ball flat in the ground. Because they ground that we played...actually our club ground was a very small ground and there were hospitals and school and traffic, and so you couldn't hit the ball out of the ground all the time because there were cars and all those things. So growing up there it is actually tough to get the power game.

"When I started playing Under-19 cricket, when it came to hitting the ball in the air, I wasn't as efficient as I am now. So it was something that I had to work on to hit the ball in the air and I am still improving," revealed Shepherd.