Veteran Australian batsman Brad Hodge has expressed his disappointment after being sacked by Adelaide Strikers earlier this year.
The 42-year old, who had led the Adelaide-based outfit to a top of the table finish in the 2015-16 season, had a forgettable outing in the last edition where his team finished a lowly sixth in the eight-team tournament. However, the right-handed batsman enjoyed a fruitful season with the bat as he scored 286 runs at 40.85. But his displays with the bat were not enough to secure his place in the team for the next season as the Strikers wasted no time in sacking him.
“I got sacked from Adelaide at 11.38 in the dressing rooms (at) Sydney Thunder after we won that game, which was disappointing,” Hodge told EON Sports Radio on Friday (March 2). “They told me, ‘Sorry, we’re going in a new direction and your services are no longer required’.
“Which was upsetting at the time because I felt like I’d really contributed a lot to Adelaide Strikers over the last couple of years and their success has been a part of that,” Hodge pointed out. “But that’s ok, that’s life, you move on. I think it’ll give me a really good opportunity to make an impact at another (club). I love playing the Big Bash, it’s always good fun.”
Speaking about his performance in the tournament, the former Australia batsman said he exceeded his expectations.
“I came into this season with an open mind,” he said. “If I couldn’t contribute then that’d be enough but I certainly found that I could contribute well, probably better than I expected. In that sense, I’m looking to play on next year.”
Hodge, who will be arriving in India soon to coach Gujarat Lions in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League, further said that positive feeds from players have convinced him to consider coaching jobs in future.
“Over the course of these 20 years, I’ve been able to play under 20 different coaches and 29 different captains,” he said.
“And that’s going to increase even more this summer. I find myself in a very blessed placed to be able to take the good bits and the bad bits from all those experiences and try to put that into my own coaching philosophy. The feedback that I get from the players is that I do a good job, so that’s really pleasing. Whether it’s a future, we’ll just have to wait and see,” he added.