Cricket: Popli's on the ball for the Bay

Bharat Popli in action for the Knights. Photo / George Novak

Bharat Popli's philosophy when it comes to cricket is pretty simple - keep scoring runs and the rest will fall into place.

Popli, 25, scored his ninth century for the Bay of Plenty men's team last weekend, which is five more than any other batsman to have played for the province.

Popli said he never really thought he'd score that many centuries for the Bay and he tried to take a simple approach to his batting. "I try and keep it as simple as I can," he said. "I don't try set too many goals, I just try and score as many runs as I can."

Bharat Popli is in outstanding form of late.

Popli will get a chance to score his 10th century for the province as soon as next week, when the Northern Districts one-day tournament is held in Taupo. He said making it to 10 would be nice, but the main thing was winning games and titles for the Bay.

"If it helps win us games, that's great. But, at the end of the day, it is about winning games."

Popli is contracted with the Northern Knights and plays in their Plunket Shield team.

He said he would like to play all forms of the game for the Knights, but would just focus on scoring more runs when handed the opportunity to play.

"Ideally I want to play all forms of the game. I want to try and score big in the Plunket Shield and push for a position in the one-day team. But it is all about scoring runs."

Popli has started this season brightly, with two centuries for the Bay and a top score of 91 for the Knights.

He said he had been working hard over the off-season, which seemed to be paying off.

"It is going pretty well. I worked pretty hard over the winter to work out a few technical issues," he said.

"I spent a lot of time with Matt Horn, from the Knights, training with him up in Auckland."

Popli bases himself in both Tauranga and Auckland, but plays club cricket for Rotorua's Bay of Plenty Indian Sports whenever he gets the chance.

"Whenever I'm not busy with the Bay or Northern Knights I go down and play with them," he said. "It's really good aye, I love coming down and playing with them. We probably don't have the quality that the other sides have but it is a great team culture and all the guys have a great attitude."

Popli came through Tauranga Boys' College at the same time as Black Cap Kane Williamson. He said there was a great work ethic and culture within the cricket group, during those high school years, led by Williamson.

-Bharat Popli centuries for the Bay: 113 v Hamilton (2008/09), 122* v Poverty Bay (2008/09), 103* v Hamilton (2009/10), 108* v Counties Manukau (2010/11), 126* v Waikato Valley (2012/13), 100 v Canterbury Country (2012/13), 103* v Poverty Bay (2014/15), 111 v Counties Manukau (2015/16), 119 v Northland (2015/16).