In order to complement the top Proteas pacer Anrich Nortje, the Delhi Capitals have once again brought in some local talent in the form of Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, and Mukesh Kumar. Throughout the previous few of seasons, they have showed a great deal of faith in the Indian fast bowlers. Bengal’s Mukesh was lavishly paid by the Delhi-based team, who acquired him for INR 5.5 crore. Delhi and Mukesh’s plans have not come to fruition so far in the current campaign, as the team has lost its first two games while the 29-year-old has yet to take his maiden wicket.
Ajit Agarkar, the assistant coach for Delhi Capitals, has acknowledged that attention is on the players who were sold for high salaries during the IPL, but he has confidence in Mukesh to recover in the next games.
He’s participated in two games. He started off quite well today and faced David Miller, who has taken a few bowlers out of the game. I felt he bowled very well in Lucknow. Although Mukesh is a good player who gained knowledge from this experience, as someone who has only participated in two IPL games, I am aware that money is a major talking point. Nevertheless, we can see Mukesh’s talent, and as he gains more playing time, he will be able to demonstrate it and improve as a player. Thus, there is no doubt in my mind,” Agarkar said in the post-match news conference to News18 CricketNext’s question.
Against the Gujarat Titans, Mukesh let up 42 runs in four overs without having a significant effect.
Agarkar referred to David Warner as one of the finest players in IPL history when questioned about his troubles and poor strike rate. He also implied that the Delhi hitters as a whole had not performed well.
“David scored 50 points in the prior game. I believe today was fine. While I don’t believe there were any differences in our tactics, I believe that as a group we failed to succeed. He has undoubtedly been among the top IPL players ever. As a team, we haven’t had a huge score in two games, and keep in mind that it’s just been two games, so you expect him to get it right. We could have performed better in both games, I’m sure of it. We just need to make it right. We must get more runs. There’s no getting around the truth, he said.
Agarkar stated it is unfair to single out one or two players when the whole squad has not done well while discussing Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan’s troubles against the pacers in the first two games.
“I mean, they’ve scored against quick bowling before. Why single out one or two people when we didn’t bat well overall? No one really got moving, not even our top orders. You can see the difference because in both games we didn’t have the massive runs at the top like some of the other teams had.
“There’s no use choosing people. Since we’re playing against some strong teams, we need to become better because we weren’t good enough as a team both nights. A lot of credit goes to Gujarat, and in order to progress as a batting unit as a team, we must work together, he continued.
When the Delhi Capitals and Titans faced off, captain David Warner took a risk by not using spinner Axar Patel’s services. That caused significant debate, but according to Agarkar, it was a tactical decision that a captain sometimes needs to make on the field depending on the circumstances of the game.
There was some dew present. We selected Mitchell Marsh’s bowling because the way the surface was playing provided a little bit more help for the pacers. The choice to bowl a finger spinner may have been a little bit risky given the presence of left-handers in the middle and the shortness of the pitch, but it was one made on the field.