![Gurinder Sandhu has signed a two-year extension with the Thunder. Picture Getty Images Gurinder Sandhu has signed a two-year extension with the Thunder. Picture Getty Images](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/36vwtM5n3dmMVgNPycRBEHz/eee04da8-1d25-46f4-87ac-84c455d6ed71.jpg/r0_71_4567_2740_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
You have to do a double take when Gurinder Sandhu mentions this is his 10th year at the top level.
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It's a throwaway line but one which makes you realise just how young this quick was when he burst onto the scene and won the Steve Waugh Medal with no more than two first-class caps and four one-day appearances for his state.
So what has he learnt throughout a decade in which he twice pulled on the colours of his country, bounced around three different states, been delisted, signed an IPL contract and danced between two Big Bash rivals in Sydney?
"Cricket is pretty complicated," Sandhu said after landing in Sydney to join the Thunder for another BBL campaign.
"We can complicate cricket a lot, especially in Twenty20 cricket when we overthink and try to get too funky. This year is about keeping it really simple, have nice and easy simple plans, and follow those plans to execute as best as we can.
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"If I can put the ball where I want to put it and have my field set how I want it, that's all I can control. I'm trying to keep it really simple and control the controllables.
"Execution comes with trusting yourself and your skillset. Trusting yourself and trusting your skillset comes from how you've trained and how you've practiced.
"If you're training well and working on the right things, there's no reason why you should go into a game thinking 'If I try to bowl a yorker here, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to land it'. That mentality tells me you haven't trained or practiced enough, and therefore you don't trust your skills, then there's a high chance you don't execute and the batter will be on top of you."
Sandhu returns to the Thunder armed with a new two-year deal ahead of their tournament opener against the Melbourne Stars at Manuka Oval in Canberra on Tuesday night.
The 29-year-old has a desire to play for Australia again after seven years out of the international scene, and he will attack this season like his career is on the line in a bid to realise a dream.
"I've been on the other end of it when I've had no contract, so I've felt that pressure. It's always nice to know you're going to be in a certain team environment for at least a few years. For me, being in Sydney means I get to come home, see my family, see my friends, so that's awesome," Sandhu said.
"You know you'll be involved in the Big Bash League for another two years. You can't really look too far ahead, if you start to look too far ahead then things don't go to plan. It's a matter of focusing on one game at a time, and if I do that then the long term goals take care of themselves."
The Thunder will host a fan day at Phillip Oval from 3pm on Sunday.
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