Alex Hales, the T20 World Cup-winning English batter known for his aggressive style of play, has been a regular feature in the global franchise cricket and a familiar face in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) over the years. This time he is playing for Rangpur Riders. In an exclusive interview with Daily Sun’s Muhammad Jubair, the 36-year-old shared his experiences in the ongoing BPL season, his fondness for the cricket culture in Bangladesh and so much more.
Here are the excerpts:

Daily Sun: It's a good start so far in the BPL for the team and personally for you. How do you see the whole environment so far?

Alex Hales: Yeah, it's been a really good start. I think we bowled very well, in every game. It's been really impressive the way the fast bowlers have bowled and also the spinners. I think that set up the three matches really well, the way we've bowled.

Daily Sun: Today you had a good hit out. It seems you enjoy hitting the ball after a few tough games, personally?  

Hales: Yeah, obviously no runs for me in the first few games, but it's nice to find a bit of form in the big match against Barisal. So yeah, I feel in good touch and I think as a team it's a really good place.

Daily Sun: Wicket seems a little different too, especially in Mirpur where some runs were being scored, which is rare to see for us. How do you see that?

Hales: It's a different wicket in terms of the year before the start of the wicket, especially in Mirpur. It felt good in Dhaka. I mean, like I said, I didn't get any runs in the first few games, but I think it was a pretty good pitch in general. In the past they've been slow and low scores but this time it wasn’t the case. And I've heard it can be good. There's maybe a little bit of swing in the team here, but it's a good balance apparently, so I'm looking forward to batting in there.

Daily Sun: And are you going to be here for the whole season?

Hales: No, I play three more games here in Sylhet, and then I go to ILT20, and then maybe back for finals, the later part of the season.

Daily Sun: You've been playing with this franchise for a long time. It's a good relationship with the franchise, always rooting for the Rangpur in the social media, we saw that. Do you enjoy being in this environment?

Hales: I love it. I played a full season, I think it was 2018 maybe? It's a very good team to be a part of. I think we have Gayle, De villiers, Riley Russow, Mashrafee still playing. I've got great memories playing with Rangpur, and so far it's been brilliant.

Daily Sun: You had been coming to Bangladesh a lot before that…

Hales: It's not new, it's been quite a journey, internationally and domestically. I think my first trip to Bangladesh was actually in 2010 with England ‘A’ side. So I've been coming to Bangladesh for 15 years now. It's been a great journey, it's gone very, very quickly. But I've loved it and I've always enjoyed my cricket in Bangladesh. The pitch at Chattrogram is one of the best pitches I've batted on. I've got two hundreds there, one for England and one for Rangpur. So I've had really good memories with cricket in Bangladesh.

Daily Sun: You're someone who embraces the sub-continental cultures by the look of it. You play PSL a lot and you're a BPL regular which is very unlikely for a top English player, coming back to Bangladesh constantly, in the subcontinent in general. How do you embrace the whole culture here?

Hales: I really like it. I've always enjoyed coming to Bangladesh. Whenever I'm free to come to BPL, I enjoy coming. I enjoy the food. The food here is very, very nice. I quite like spicy food, so I enjoy it. And the hotels and everything are nice. And the people here really love cricket.

Daily Sun: You were talking about your love for the heat…

Hales: I like the heat, yeah. I love the sunshine. In the UK, I think I was born in the wrong country. I love the sunshine. Coming here, getting to play in the hot weather, people love cricket. The crowds are very good. So it's always a good time in Bangladesh.

Daily Sun: I've always wanted to ask someone like you who was part of that English Golden Era, you guys changed white ball cricket by playing an aggressive brand of cricket. Now the English red ball team is doing the same thing and other teams are copying the same method. How do you see the changes in international cricket from that Morgan era and now?

Hales: Yeah, I think nobody had a fear of getting out. Nobody was scared to go out and play shots. I remember when I first got on the team, Trevor said to me and Jason Roy, you guys are opening for the whole year, no matter how you do. It doesn't matter if you score runs or not, you guys have got the whole year. So that gives you the freedom to go out and play the way you want to play. So there was no fear of failure. And when you've got that freedom as a whole team, you go out and everyone plays aggressively. And I think we had guys whose natural game was to be aggressive. So it was the perfect combo of having that freedom and going out with no fear of getting out and guys with the skill to do it. So I think we were very lucky and blessed in that era.

Daily Sun: That psyche, slowly but surely getting into the red ball cricket, don’t you think?

Hales: Keep being aggressive, yeah. I think so. It's the way to get better as well. You get better through being aggressive, making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. If anyone can go out and knock it round for ones and twos without getting out, I think you have to be aggressive now. You have to be wanting to take the bowler on, no fear of getting out, but also learning from the mistakes you make and continuing to be aggressive. I think that's the way to play cricket.

Daily Sun: Lastly, about the franchise cricket and its busy schedule, you are very thick and thin about it. You play BPL, ILT20 and SAT20 as well. How do you manage that as an ex international who only plays franchise cricket?

Hales: Yeah, I enjoy it. It's very busy. There are so many tournaments now. There's almost a tournament every single month, sometimes two or three at a time. It's something I quite like. I usually try and play for four months in a row, then have maybe one or two months rest, and then go again. So that's kind of how I try and schedule it. There's so much good cricket around the world and it's something I love. I love going to different countries to play, playing in different conditions, with different players and I feel like you get to learn so much in franchise cricket. One day you'll be playing against someone and the next tournament you're playing with them, so you can get all the info you need off them. It's a great way to learn and get better.