Corey Anderson has spent the last year or so striving to be the best finisher for his team. He has been drafted into this role by New Zealand and his IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians. Although in Pepsi IPL 2015, Anderson has played the role of a pivot for MI due to their non-firing top-order. And he has adapted well to this fickle role, as reflected in his two fifty-plus scores in three matches so far. Even as MI slipped to their third defeat in a row, against Rajasthan Royals, Anderson played his part admirably with a 38-ball fifty. Most of those runs came in his 104-run partnership with Kieron Pollard (70 off 34 balls) and together the two ball-bashers took MI from a precarious 45 for 3 to 164 for 5. The total was not a winning one but Anderson had been good with the bat. With the regular top-order collapses in the MI batting, the New Zealander has been left to balance the art of consolidating and finishing. In a chat with iplt20.com after MI’s seven-wicket defeat at the hands of the Royals, Anderson spoke about his own batting form and expressed his intention of developing into a batsman who takes his team home with smart power-hitting. He also conveyed his joy at seeing more and more New Zealand players doing well in the IPL. Let’s talk about the good stuff – your form. You’re coming off a very successful World Cup campaign and the confidence has shown in the two fifties you’ve made here so far. Can you feel it? I think I can. Last year I had pretty good preparation (for the IPL) having come off the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh. Coming to India for the IPL in the subcontinent conditions made it easier. This year I have gained a little more confidence, having played a lot more international cricket in the last 12 months. I feel like I am competing with some of the bigger guys in the world now and learning a lot about my game as well. I am also a lot more comfortable coming back into the MI setup. Last year was your first taste of the IPL. It takes time to get used to a tournament like this. This year do you feel more relaxed and like you understand the tournament better? Yes, a lot more. There is a fear of the unknown when you first come in and there is a bit of craziness around the IPL. When you come back and you know the surroundings and the people around you, it becomes a lot more comfortable. You start building on the new friendships you made in the previous IPL and you settle down into the team. We are not off to a good start, but in this format you cannot win them all. We have got to keep doing most things right and just tweak the little things that are keeping us down. The Rajasthan Royals’ bowlers kept the noose pretty tight in the first 10 overs. When you and Pollard got together what did you say – ‘let’s ’ go for the kill’? A little bit, yes. We knew we both were power players and Polly (Pollard) is unbelievable when he gets going; he is pretty good to watch and I had the best seat in the house. When you can take it on, the bowlers can panic, and I think they did today. They got a bit scared as to where to bowl to Polly and we knew if we both can get going, we can put up a decent total. Luckily we did but not getting off to a good start hurt us again. Was there a bit of a healthy competition between the two power-hitters out there? I guess so, and he definitely won this one. He is a class act; he does take a little bit of time to get going, which is absolutely fine. I managed to get a few away as well, which was nice. It was nice to have two guys being able to hit those boundaries in the end. The top-order hasn’t fired in the first three games. As an in-form player, do you feel like you have a little more responsibility to make sure the team finishes the innings well? Yes, I think so. My role in the team is to come in around the 12th over and finish things off well. But I have been coming in earlier than that, which has given me a chance to set myself up and play a game where I can take some time, see the ball and get used to the pitch. It’s more of (building the) platform innings that I have been playing at this time rather than the late blasts. We haven’t really got ourselves in a position as a team where I can do that. The role of a finisher is a very crucial one in modern limited overs cricket. Is there anyone in particular you look up to as you look to develop further in this role? We had (Michael) Hussey last year with us (at Mumbai Indians). He was an unbelievable finisher and so was Michael Bevan. These guys finished games and made it look easy. I have been able to put myself into positions where I can potentially win the game but I tend to get out just before doing so. I am hoping that with a bit of experience and time I’ll start learning these things. You learn to put the pieces together. In T20 cricket you see a lot more guys staying calm even when chasing 10-11-12 runs an over. It is not hard to get (10-11-12 runs an over) these days. It was unthinkable a few years ago. But the game has changed completely now. It’s the IPL that has created more havoc at the international scene as well. The World Cup was a special experience for you, being your first one. What does a tournament like that do to a young player like you? It’s just the experience of playing in the World Cup and having to face different teams every time, which normally doesn’t happen. You generally play the same team for three-four games and get used to their bowling and batting. We were lucky we did well in the World Cup and got a lot of success. It is showing in the performances of some of the New Zealand players in this tournament – Baz (Brendon McCullum) is hitting hundreds, Timmy (Tim Southee) is bowling pretty well and he hit the winning runs the other day, Trent (Boult) has been picking wickets. It is a reflection of how we have been going in international cricket over the last year or so. It is nice to see the Kiwis putting their stamp on to this tournament.