Ever since the IPL’s 2023 edition, Mukesh Kumar has evolved from being a fringe player to having earned the rare distinction of making his international debut across all three formats in the same series. Besides, the pacer has been unveiled in a new avatar — that of a death overs specialist — by Delhi Capitals.
The manner in which Mukesh — who relies on seam as his key arsenal, at least in the red-ball format — is being used in a new role may have surprised quite a few people, but the pacer himself was ready for the challenge.
“I was told last season to be prepared for bowling at the death, so I was doing accordingly,” said Mukesh during a round-table chat organised by the franchise.
In an endeavour to enhance his skills, he turned towards Ishant Sharma — his sounding board at DC — whose rich experience helped him develop the “slower ball, knuckle ball and wide yorkers”.
It reflected in the manner in which he stuck to his plan of bowling slower balls or low full-tosses to defend 18 runs in the last over and help Capitals edge past Gujarat Titans on Wednesday.
Jasprit Bumrah helped Mukesh understand the effective use of the yorker.
“I was focusing on yorkers last season but Jassi bhai made me realise that a yorker’s effectiveness depends on the conditions and the pace of the pitch. If it is slightly slower, an attempted yorker may end up landing in the slot, so I am focusing more on the slower ball this season.”
Yorkers never go out of fashion in T20 cricket but each IPL edition has a flavour of the season when it comes to containing range-hitters.
“Wide yorkers are trending this season but you cannot overdo it upfront and waste the new ball. You have to try for wickets upfront so that’s the risk you take, by bowling in line and risking the batters going after. But it also depends on the conditions as well,” Mukesh said.
