Adam Milne joined Mumbai Indians as a replacement for the injured Pat Cummins. The 26-year-old New Zealander is one of the fastest bowlers on the planet. He clocks 150 kph on a consistent basis. In 70 Twenty20 appearances, Milne has picked up 83 wickets at an economy rate of 7.77. In an interview, the lanky right-amer takes questions on a range of topics including the influence MI bowling coach Shane Bond has had on his career.

“Shane’s had a lot of influence on my bowling. When I started playing domestic cricket, he was the bowling coach of Central Districts. He has had a lot of influence on how I bowl as well as my growth and development as a bowler. He has a great cricket mind and is very good at the tactical side of things. He comes up with a plan and always tries to develop that side of your game. You can always look at timing and technique, but he’s great with the technical side of things as well,” Milne says.

The Kiwi, who has represented his country in 40 ODIs and 19 T20Is, is very happy to be in the MI squad. “It’s been cool coming to this team. It’s quite unfortunate we didn’t get the results we wanted. But it’s occurred to me that a few of the guys are superstars in our team. I have had a chance to play against them (in international cricket) but not with them. So, trying to know them better has been really cool. It has been very welcoming and I’m looking forward to spending more time with my teammates,” he says.

Not everybody bowls at 150 clicks. How does he manage to do that, we wonder. Milne credits Chris Donaldson for the same. Donaldson is the New Zealand team’s strength and conditioning coach. A former sprinter, he represented New Zealand at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Donaldson’s personal best of 20.42 seconds in the 200 metres is still a Kiwi national record.

“I think it just comes down to how dedicated you are with your fitness. As a fast bowler, you have to generally be one of the fittest players in the team. We need to run fast and also be strong,” Milne says. “Chris Donaldson is amazing at running gym programmes that help up get fit and fast. He’s been amazing for not just me, but all the other guys like Trent Boult and Tim Southee,” he adds.

Milne is good at football, too. He used to represent Wairarapa United, which won the Chatham Cup, New Zealand’s premier knockout tournament in association football, back in 2011. “I usually play either side of right and left midfield or up front. And, then, I played a couple of games as left-back as well. It is all weird up but it was a good time back then. I used to like Manchester United when Cristiano Ronaldo was part of the team, but now I don’t get to watch a lot of football. I do enjoy watching some highlights and some skilful moves and nice goals.

Milne wants to win games for MI. “When you come into a team, your goal is to help that team win games. Mumbai Indians have got a great set-up here and it shows why they’ve done well in the Vivo IPL. They’re the only team to win three Vivo IPL titles, which shows the calibre of the cricketers that are playing here. It also shows the pride they have in this competition. I think the No. 1 goal is to try and do anything I can to help the team win games,” he says.

This isn’t Milne’s first time in Mumbai. But he would like to explore the city a bit more. “I’ve been to Mumbai a couple of times but I enjoy finding new spots for dinner. I know there are nice restaurants here, so I always like finding new food places and try different things. That’s always good,” he says.

He has a special message for the Paltan, too. “Just stay strong. And keep coming out here and supporting us. The team is doing some really good work in training and we’re looking forward to getting back out there and get on a roll and get some wins and get into this competition and take it deep and hopefully, get into the finals. And once we’re into those, the boys have got a good experience of bringing the trophy home.”