The greatest fast bowler of the generation opens up on his future and his career goal
Steyn won't give up the white ball
While he concedes it might be the "wise thing" to do, South Africa pace ace Dale Steyn says he will not give up limited-overs cricket to prolong his Test career.
Widely regarded as the preeminent fast bowler of his generation, Steyn has been South Africa's spearhead in all three formats for the best part of a decade.
However, the 32-year-old has battled injury in the past nine months, missing Tests away in India and at home against England with a broken shoulder.
Veteran Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath last week retired from white-ball cricket to extend his career in the five-day format, while others, notably Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne, gave up the coloured clothes to focus on playing in the whites in their twilight.
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But Steyn is intent on bucking that trend; he is unwilling to stop competing in any format of the game he has loved playing for a dozen years at international level.
Image Id: ~/media/82401AB726BB48E5B505A17D17F2F33A Image Caption: This celebration has been a familiar sight in world cricket for the last decade // Getty Images"When you start to come to the back end (of your career) people start to say 'maybe you should give up one (format) or give up the other'," Steyn told cricket.com.au in Rajkot, where he's representing new IPL outfit the Gujarat Lions.
"I'm looking at it differently; I want to play everything.
"I really enjoy Twenty20s, I really enjoy ODIs, it’s just great. I like the entertainment side of it, it's fun.
"To give that up and play Test matches would probably be the wise thing, but I just want to play everything.
"I get 'FOMO' – the fear of missing out – so I want to play.
"I want to go on tours, I love being around the boys, and I love playing cricket."
Steyn is willing to accept that a consequence of his ‘FOMO’ might be a failure to reach another goal – playing 100 Tests for the Proteas.
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Steyn has played 82 Tests and taken a remarkable 406 wickets for South Africa since debuting as 20-year-old against England in December 2004.
No bowler in the history of Test cricket with a minimum of 200 wickets has a strike-rate better than his 41.7.
Alongside New Zealand great Sir Richard Hadlee, he's the joint-fastest paceman to 400 Test wickets, reaching the milestone in 80 Tests.
And Steyn was the No.1 ranked Test bowler by the International Cricket Council for virtually six straight years from 2009 to 2015.
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While it's a century of Tests the lethal right-armer covets most, he said he won't be unhappy if he falls short of his target.
"I'd love to get to 100 Test matches. That would be amazing," Steyn said. "I'm not going to be too upset if I end up on 95 or if I even end up on 85.
"I feel like I've made a great contribution to South African cricket.
"I've really loved it, I've enjoyed every moment of it.
"Those numbers are great, but I just like playing cricket. I'm just really enjoying it right now.
"I know that I can't do this for the rest of my life so I'm just trying to enjoy as much as I can.
"If it means that I'm only go to pay one more Test match in my career then so be it."
Steyn's next Test assignment is a two-Test series at home against New Zealand, before heading to Australia for three Tests in November.